


i know your love's not real (that's not the way it feels)

by thepriestthinksitsthedevil (stubliminalmessaging)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Bottom Harry, Dirty Talk, Dom Louis, ENDGAME ZOURRY, Face-Fucking, Facials, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hair-pulling, I repeat, M/M, Oral Sex, Pining, Polyamory, Rimming, Sad Harry, Spitroasting, Threesome - M/M/M, Top Louis, Top Zayn, Unrequited Love, Voyeurism, ZOURRY IS ENDGAME, because i'm weak as hell, glimpse of a zouis sex scene in chapter 5, harry likes it rough, he talks about liking getting fucked but he doesn't get fucked in this chapter, in other news water is wet, just a touch of breathplay, of sorts, since i got a handful of comments about it, sort of top zayn i mean, this fic should be subtitled 'poor harry'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-05-25 01:05:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6173992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stubliminalmessaging/pseuds/thepriestthinksitsthedevil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis pursed his lips and held out for about a second before he said; “Zayn’s quite fit, isn’t he?”</p><p>(a sort-of fake dating AU where Harry is smitten, Louis is oblivious, Zayn thinks he just wants to make out with cute boys, and Liam and Niall are just trying to deal with their resident idiots.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to this fic, which is nearly 30k and nearly fully written. will update tags as they become relevant. also this updates on saturdays or sundays depending on when i get net access. hope you like!! i put a lot of work into it :> it's literally the longest thing i've ever written so i hope it's not a sack of shit
> 
> also thanks to [my homie kate](http://mymomthinksitstheflu.tumblr.com/) for the beta!!

Louis let out a deeply frustrated sigh as he flopped back down on the couch next to Harry. He shuffled in closer to the younger boy and eased Harry’s cup of tea from his hands, taking a sip. Harry didn’t even blink, just let Louis have it and took it back when Louis was done with it. He didn’t comment on Louis’ sigh, just stared forward at the cooking channel on the TV in contemplative silence.

 

This was the wrong move apparently, given the way Louis shifted even closer to Harry and sighed even deeper. Harry traced the rim of his teacup with a finger before he looked up at Louis. “What’s wrong then?”

 

Louis pursed his lips and held out for about a second before he said; “Zayn’s quite fit, isn’t he?”

 

It was a struggle for Harry not to roll his eyes. They’d met this bloke at a party through a mutual friend and Louis had been glued to his side all night. He used being drunk as an excuse to do all kinds of filthy things like bumping into Zayn and groping him and making innuendo-laced comments. He was making his thirst clear as day but it was like Zayn didn’t notice, completely unaffected by Louis’ somewhat aggressive (but still nice, so nice Harry felt madly jealous that it wasn’t directed at him) flirting. And like, Zayn was probably unfairly attractive (objectively, of course) but was he really so full of himself that he’d spurn Louis’ advances? _Louis_ , who was an actual angel with a body made for sin? Who the fuck said no to _that_?

 

(Harry maybe had a bit of a crush on his flatmate and best friend. Just a little, hardly even worth mentioning. It really wasn’t a big deal the way he thought about Louis literally every second of every day and fantasized about crawling into Louis’ bed at night to wake him up with his mouth around his cock. Really no big deal. _Really_.)

 

“I s’ppose so,” Harry mumbled, shrugging and taking a sip of his tea. He probably just imagined that he could taste Louis’ lips on the rim of the cup where they’d been just a second before but it was still a lovely thought.

 

“Wouldn’t mind having a go at someone hot as him,” Louis said, trying for nonchalance though he was clearly trying to bait Harry into continuing the conversation. Harry didn’t want to talk about Louis’ ongoing goal to fuck Zayn.

 

“I might try making that,” Harry commented, gesturing to the TV where some pretty female host was putting together some kind of layered cake. “Get me some paper? I wanna write this d-“

 

“ _Harold_ ,” Louis began, tone warning and eyebrows furrowing. “This is serious.”

 

“If you wanna shag Zayn, then shag him,” Harry said, snappier than usual. “You’ve never needed my permission to shag any of the other thousand blokes you’ve done since we met.”

 

“But I don’t know how else to get him on the same page as me,” Louis confessed. “I basically threw myself at him and he didn’t seem interested.”

 

“Do you think he might be straight?” Harry asked, trying to stifle the joy he felt at the possibility.

 

“He’s at least bi,” Louis replied. “He used to hook up with Liam.”

 

“Okay, uh,” Harry began, already feeling exhausted by this conversation. “Have you told him? Like straight-up, tell him you wanna shag him?”

 

Louis looked horrified. “I can’t do that,” he said, shaking his head and taking Harry’s tea again. “That’s boring. Takes all the fun out of it.”

 

Harry watched Louis take a gulp of his tea as he let that comment sit. He had nothing to say to that and he could tell Louis was working towards a point so he waited for him to go on.

 

“Pretend to come onto me at a party,” Louis said. “Next time we’re at a party he’s at, just pretend to be all over me.” Harry blinked. Right. _Pretend_. “If that doesn’t make him jealous enough to do something, I’ll have to give up.”

 

“How would me flirting with you make him jealous?” Harry asked, stalling while he thought about it. Did he or did he not want to be a pawn in getting the man he was inarguably in love with to fuck someone else? “He knows we’re just friends.” Unfortunately.

 

Louis scoffed. “Him and Liam are just friends and they still put their dicks in each other. Clearly he’s open to friends-with-benefits-like arrangements.”

 

Well, it was a relief that Louis wasn’t angling for a long-term relationship with Zayn. That didn’t crush Harry’s hopes completely, just for now. Harry didn’t comment on Louis’ proposition, just hummed softly. He finished his tea and felt Louis’ fingers circle the wrist closest to him.

 

“So will you do it?” Louis prompted, giving Harry such an earnest, hopeful look that he almost forgot that all he wanted in the end was to get his dick wet.

 

Still, Harry had always been terrible at saying no to anything Louis asked so before very long he found himself agreeing. A second later he had a lapful of gleeful Louis, hugging him around his neck and smacking loud kisses against his cheek and it started feeling worth it. It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

 

-

 

It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad at all. They went to a couple of parties in the next few weeks and as soon as Louis spotted Zayn he grabbed Harry and they stayed together all night. They’d sit down and Louis would curl up in Harry’s lap or pull Harry in against his side and throw an arm around him. He’d play with Harry’s hair or stroke a finger down his arm or over his hips where his shirt rode up. Every touch made Harry melt a little, both from Louis’ attention and Zayn’s eyes following their every point of contact. His expression was inquisitive but he didn’t say a word, which Louis raged about in the cab on the way home.

 

“Why hasn’t he tried to blow me yet?” Louis despaired, flailing his legs a little and kicking the back of the passenger seat. The driver gave him a dirty look in the rearview mirror. “Am I not hot enough?”

 

“No, of – of course you’re hot,” Harry assured him, leaned up against his side even though there was plenty of space in the back seat and they weren’t showing off for anyone anymore. It was nice. He was soft and warm and Harry was happy. “He was definitely watching,” Harry said, determined to encourage Louis. “He couldn’t take his eyes off us.”

 

“Off me?” Louis asked and Harry nodded and buried his face in Louis’ shoulder. “We’ll try harder next time,” Louis decided, putting an arm around Harry’s shoulder. “He won’t be able to resist me.”

 

“Who could?” Harry asked, delighting in the kiss to the temple Louis gave him.

 

-

 

The next time they saw Zayn was at a club with a couple other mates. At the time that Harry was getting ready he could not have predicted how the events of that night would feature so prominently in his masturbatory fantasies from then on but they certainly would.

 

Louis started drinking and smoking up while Harry was getting ready and so he was all over Harry in the cab, kissing his neck and biting at his shoulder and generally being a horny menace. Harry loved every second of it, pawed at Louis’ thighs and arse as much as he’d let him, and by the time they stumbled out of the cab and up to the entrance of the club they were both hard and Harry had lovebites up both sides of his throat.

 

Zayn couldn’t stop staring at the marks when they met up with him and the other lads at the club. Louis was ready to hit the floor immediately and Harry wasn’t buzzed enough yet so he made for the bar with the others but Louis grabbed his wrist and dragged him deep into the throng.

 

The dancefloor was packed but Harry couldn’t feel any of the other bodies around him aside from Louis’. There was never anyone in his life but Louis anyways, so why should this be any different? Louis pulled Harry close on the floor and it was all he could do to hold on, clutching at Louis’ back and sides, already damp through his top. Louis’ hands slid down and held Harry’s pelvis against him by a firm grip on his arse.

 

Harry wondered if Zayn could even see them grinding together and groping each other or if Louis was just too drunk, high, and horny to care. His question was answered when Louis finally let him go to use the toilet, letting Harry grab a drink and wait by the bar for him to come back. Harry had barely taken a sip when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head, thinking Louis was going to take his drink out of his hand and skull it as he sometimes did but then Zayn was there, flagging down the bartender and getting them some shots.

 

“Cheers,” Harry half-shouted when Zayn handed him a shot and they clinked their little plastic cups together, sloshing rum everywhere before they knocked them back. Harry laughed and threw his cup at Zayn, who flicked his at Harry and then pulled him along to a booth across the bar where they could chat. Zayn took the inside seat which made Harry feel less like Zayn was going to beat him up. He slid into the outside seat and took a big gulp of his drink while Zayn just watched him.

 

“Did you wanna dance again?” Zayn asked, lips brushing Harry’s ear as he spoke. Even with his voice raised his accent was still soft and it made Harry shiver.

 

“Nah, I’m good to sit down for a bit,” Harry assured him, smiling into his glass at how Zayn seemed to look relieved. Louis mentioned that he didn’t really dance so Harry was glad to take a little break with him.

 

“Bet Louis wears you out,” Zayn commented and Harry didn’t miss the way his eyebrows moved and betrayed his innuendo.

 

“Yeah, he sure loves to dance,” Harry said slowly, narrowing his eyes at Zayn. Zayn broke their eye contact and looked out at the floor to where Niall and Liam were busting out some truly embarrassing moves. Their cheeks were red and their grins were wide though so Harry just smiled as he watched them too. He started when Zayn spoke, looking right at him.

 

“So are you and Louis together?” he asked abruptly, keeping his eyes locked on Harry. Zayn’s gaze was dark and intense and Harry could only hold it for a second before he instinctively snapped his focus down to the table in front of him.

 

“Uhm – no,” Harry said slowly and Zayn leaned in closer to him, probably to listen better in the loud club. “We’re not,” Harry finished, feeling very anticlimactic as Zayn clearly expected more.

 

“But you’re always all over each other,” Zayn pointed out. “You’ve got his fucking marks all over your neck.”

 

“Yeah, we just mess around,” Harry assured him, hating how true that was. He habitually reached up to trace his fingers over one side of his neck where all Louis’ lovebites during the cab ride had been. He hadn’t even seen them himself yet but he shivered as he imagined the phantom sensation of Louis’ teeth on his neck.

 

“Okay,” Zayn said. “Right. Good.” Harry didn’t have time to think about how odd that reaction was because a drunken Louis suddenly appeared out of the crowd and hauled Harry up out of the booth and to his feet.

 

When Louis spotted Zayn, he let go of Harry so abruptly Harry nearly fell over and fumbled to take both of Zayn’s hands.

 

“Coming to dance with us, Zed?” Louis asked with a saucy wiggle of his hips that would have had a lesser man (Harry) feeling weak in the knees.

 

“Don’t really dance,” Zayn said, shrugging. Louis pouted and coaxed until Zayn finally said; “Let me drink more before you try me again.”

 

“I’m holding you to that,” Louis promised, pointing a serious finger at Zayn who just laughed. “You better be a fun drunk.”

 

“I am,” Zayn assured him. Then he looked between Harry and Louis very obviously as he spoke. “Drunk Zayn does all kinds of naughty things.”

 

Louis dug out his wallet at that and shoved drink money at Zayn. Zayn chuckled and shooed them off to go dance but not before Louis wormed his way closer and gave Zayn a quick but dark lovebite right under his ear. Harry tried not to seethe before Louis put an arm around his waist, pulling him back on the floor by a handful of his arse. Harry cast one more look over his shoulder at Zayn, confused by the intense, furrowed-brow expression he wore as he looked at Louis while he idly traced his finger over the wet skin Louis had just bruised.

 

-

 

Louis was grinding against him, his front pressed to Harry’s and Harry was close to embarrassing himself and making a mess of his jeans.

 

Harry nosed his way in close to Louis’ ear. “Grind against my arse,” he suggested, hoping having no direct contact to his dick would settle him down a bit. Unless Louis took that as an invitation to reach around and rub his hand against Harry through his trousers, which... right. Harry _really_ needed to calm down.

 

With a nip to Harry’s chin Louis shook his head and Harry gulped. He loved the contact too much to actually want to stop, so he wouldn’t ask Louis to. Maybe Louis would be too drunk to notice when Harry twitched and writhed against him. It was almost like dancing, wasn’t it?

 

A second later Harry knew why Louis hadn’t flipped him around when he felt another body come up against his back. He belatedly froze up until Louis grinned and whisper-shouted; “It’s about time!” over Harry’s shoulder. Harry turned his head into the kiss Zayn pressed to his cheek and he felt Louis bristle. Instead of getting upset the way Harry thought he would he felt Louis’ hands leave his hips. Harry didn’t even have time to mourn the loss of the touch because immediately Louis’ body pressed harder against his front and Zayn pressed harder against his back as Louis put his hands on Zayn and around Harry.

 

When Louis started moving against him and Zayn took Louis’ cue and ground against his ass Harry nearly lost it, clutching hard at Louis’ shoulders. One hand slid into Louis’ hair, touching the soft strands centered him a bit and he focused on the sensation instead of being overwhelmed by the two boys bracketing him and nearly jizzing himself. Until of course Zayn’s hand overlapped his in Louis’ hair, squeezing his hand and pulling Louis’ head back. Zayn latched on to Louis’ throat as he arched it, returning the lovebite that Louis had given him earlier. Harry could hear Louis’ rumbly moan as Zayn pulled off and their lips locked in a filthy messy kiss.

 

Harry watched in frozen part-horror part-arousal as the boy he loved made out with his sworn nemesis. As soon as he could think again Harry was moving, pushing at Louis’ and Zayn’s arms to escape from their sandwich of heartbreak and betrayal. Once he got free he marched off the dancefloor with surprising coordination for someone as rattled as he was. He heard Louis call him over the pounding of the music in the club and he had to fight to resist the ridiculous pull Louis always had over him that he felt deep in his core. He didn’t look back once and didn’t really stop moving until Niall caught up with him down an alley outside the club.

 

“Harry,” Niall said and Harry didn’t look at him but he sounded strained and so Harry stopped power-walking and let Niall approach him. Niall’s hand landed on the small of his back and slid up to his shoulder and squeezed and Harry already felt the tension ease out of him a bit. “Harry, what happened?”

 

Harry gnawed his lip and shook his head. He leaned on the wall nearest him and slid down it. Without a second’s hesitation Niall took a seat next to him and threw an arm around his shoulders. Harry couldn’t help but press into the touch – Niall was a perfect angel of a friend who would never do anything to hurt him.

 

“Tommo’s not trying to hurt you,” Niall assured him though Harry hadn’t realized he’d said that last bit out loud. “He’s being a proper arsehole to you now but he’ll come to his senses soon.”

 

“You think so?” Harry asked miserably. He wished he was better at talking about his Louis-related feelings because then maybe Niall would stand a chance of offering some real advice. He wondered how Niall would react to Harry explaining the whole Zayn thing and their fake dating plot. He’d probably blame Louis for being an insensitive prick and treat him like shit about it. “I just know he doesn’t feel the same way as I do.”

 

“Trust me, the fucking love in his eyes when he looks at you is nothing short of disgusting,” Niall assured him. “Like Liam and me are always texting each other about how we just wanna puke when you two are eyefucking like you do.”

 

“We do not eyefuck,” Harry scoffed.

 

“Yeah, I guess you’d really know, being able to see how you two look at each other and all,” Niall said, rolling his eyes. “You two do it without even thinking about it. You’re both damn smitten.”

 

“I appreciate your optimism,” Harry murmured before he fell silent. They sat there on the cold ground for a few minutes before Harry let Niall take him home, holding his hand the entire cab ride back to his and Louis’ flat. He contemplated asking to crash at Niall’s place so he wouldn’t have to see Louis in the morning but he ended up getting tucked into his bed by Niall. He did at least manage to convince Niall to crash at his place to save him the cab fare home.

 

“Won’t Louis get jealous?” Niall asked as he stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed with Harry.

 

“He won’t care,” Harry promised, latching on to Niall like a limpet. He tried not to think of how painfully honest that statement was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's chapter 2! hope you enjoy, and feel free to hmu on [my blog](http://thepriestthinksitsthedevil.tumblr.com/)!!

The next morning Harry woke up after Niall if his empty bed was any indication. He wasn’t hungover but he was exhausted by the sheer emotional roller coaster the night before and his head hurt from all the crying he’d been doing after the lights went out. Niall hadn’t commented on it, just eased Harry onto his side and curled up behind him and held him through his sobs like a good friend. (Louis used to do that for him whenever he got upset about anything. Harry shoved that thought to the back of his head bitterly.)

 

Harry pulled on a pair of cozy joggers (Louis’, of fucking course, because they were that steeped in one another’s lives) and pushed back his mane of hair before wandering out to the kitchen where someone had hopefully boiled the kettle.

 

Niall was Harry’s hero again (he’d have to buy the lad a pint or seven to thank him for being on top of Harry’s shit when Harry himself so wasn’t) and had tea _and_ toast waiting for him when he got there. He took the plate and mug gratefully from Niall and sat down at the table. He bit into his toast and got a couple sips of tea in before a loud cough from the living room corner of their flat got his attention. Louis was sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal and when he caught Harry’s eye he nodded for Harry to come over. Harry turned back to his toast and Louis literally hissed Harry’s name from across the room.

 

Harry picked up his plate and mug and brought them over to where Louis was perched – but not before he stopped by Niall to give him a crumby kiss on the cheek. Louis didn’t make a noise but Harry could tell he wasn’t happy with the display he was witnessing.

 

Niall patted Harry’s cheek fondly before he went to their little foyer for his shoes and jacket. “I’m off then, lads.” Harry gave Niall a desperate look – he didn’t want to be left alone with Louis when he was still so upset with him! – and Niall ignored it. So much for him being a good friend.

 

They exchange farewells, Louis noticeably tense and a fair bit bitchy, and the second the door closed, Louis was on Harry.

 

Why did Niall wander out of your room in his underwear?” Louis asked, voice edged with the tiniest bit of hysteria.

 

Harry shrugged and took a bite of his toast, chewing slowly but maintaining infuriating eye contact with Louis.

 

Louis gnawed on his bottom lip. “Did you shag him?” he asked, eyebrows disappearing behind his fringe, which was messy from sleep. He was still in his pyjamas and hadn’t shaved yet and looked impossibly soft but Harry had to resist.

 

“What if I did?” Harry asked, picking at the crumbs that had fallen onto his joggers – Louis’ joggers. “You hook up with random blokes all the time.”

 

“Yeah, but I’m _me_ ,” Louis argued, frowning as Harry pinned him with an unimpressed look. “When have I ever not been a slut, in the time that you’ve known me?”

 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t be,” Harry mumbled into his tea, even though he would probably never be promiscuous like Louis given how devoted he was to not even being with Louis. Before Louis could spout more ugly double standard bullshit Harry dropped his last comment – the point he was trying to make. “And anyway, since when do you care who I sleep with?”

 

“Since he’s my friend t-“

 

“You’re not my boyfriend, Louis,” Harry snapped, finishing his tea. “It’s none of your business who I sleep with.”

 

Louis’ mouth snapped shut at that. Harry was so miserable about his situation he would consider it a miracle that he’d rendered Louis speechless for the first time since they’d met. Instead he left Louis there on the couch with his dirty dishes and fled to his room.

 

-

 

(Louis barely held out an hour before he was knocking on the door to Harry’s bedroom. Harry ignored him, bundled up in the covers and crying all over his pillowcase.

 

“Please, Hazza,” Louis pleaded, clearly leaning against the door if the amount of creaking was any indication. “You can fuck whoever you want, even Niall I _guess_ , just don’t ignore me.”

 

Harry held out with determination. He heard Louis’ body drag down the door and a thump as his knees hit the floor, and Harry could imagine Louis sliding down the door pathetically with startling clarity.

 

“Please Harry, you know my life force is fed by people paying attention to me and that if I don’t get enough attention I’ll wilt and wither away and die,” he sniffed dramatically. “And your attention always makes me the strongest, Haz – if I didn’t have you there would be nothing left.”

 

Harry was mostly there already, but he only let Louis whine and ramble for a few more seconds before he got up and opened the door for Louis, who automatically latched onto him, clinging to his waist and nuzzling at his tummy. Harry pet at Louis’ hair and reveled in the ab kisses Louis gave him between sincere thank yous and promises not to be an arsehole friend ever again. Harry knew Louis wasn’t going to keep that promise but he still told Louis he forgave him. He’d forgive Louis for anything.)

 

-

 

Two days later Harry came home from work to find Zayn sitting on the couch in his living room. He was fiddling with his phone and looked up when he heard Harry close the front door.

 

“Hey Zayn,” Harry said in an attempt to be civil, kicking off his boots and hanging his jacket up in the closet. He threw his bag down on the opposite end of the couch from Zayn and went back to his room to go get changed out of his work clothes. He’d been working at the bakery long enough that he didn’t often make huge messes anymore, but he still always got flour on his trousers despite wearing an apron.

 

Zayn was right where Harry left him when he walked back out to the communal part of the flat. Zayn was fidgety and tensed visibly when Harry dropped down on the couch next to him. Given that the last time they saw each other Harry was fleeing Zayn’s embrace in a whirlwind of emotions after having Zayn’s cock against his arse, a little awkwardness seemed fair.

 

Seldom one to let weird social situations get the better of him, Harry turned to face Zayn and settled in cross-legged, his back resting against the armrest.

 

“Hanging out with Lou?” Harry asked. When Zayn nodded stiffly Harry went on. “Where is he anyway?”

 

“Getting ready to go out,” Zayn replied, hardly more than a mumble that nearly got lost in his accent.

 

“Oh, sick. Where are you going?” Harry hoped they weren’t going clubbing after what had happened last time, but Zayn wasn’t dressed for the club so he felt pretty safe.

 

“Dinner and a movie,” Zayn replied, busying himself with his phone again. Harry couldn’t tell if Zayn was avoiding looking at him on purpose or if he was just shy.

 

“Mind if I tag along?” Harry began, noting how Zayn froze right up at that but ignoring it and charging on anyways. “It’s been ages since I’ve been to see a film.”

 

“Um, it’s just, like – it’s kind of-“

 

“Harry.” Harry looked over the back of the couch to where Louis stood in the doorway of the little hallway that led to their bedrooms and the bathroom. He looked surprised to see Harry, which was weird since Harry lived there, but whatever. Louis was holding a jacket which covered most of his front but Harry noticed he’d styled his hair which was a bit much for just hanging out with Zayn. But it was a free country, Harry supposed, and Louis could be weird and do his hair or no reason if he wanted to.

 

Zayn and Louis were having some kind of silent conversation then and Harry scowled. “You’re both being weird. Am I missing something?”

 

“Yeah, you are,” Louis huffed and Zayn scrubbed his hand over his face, clearly agitated. Louis lifted his jacket up and shrugged it on, making some comment about Harry being particularly thick this evening, and everything clicked for Harry when he saw Louis lower half.

 

Louis was wearing The Jeans. His best-fitting fuck-me jeans that he only wore when he was determined to get laid. Suddenly everything made sense – Zayn sitting in their living room looking like he was in some stuffy white family’s living room waiting for his prom date.

 

“You’re going on a date,” Harry observed, feeling incredibly stupid as the words left his lips. He tried to recover as smoothly as possible. “That’s... nice.” Nailed it.

 

“Yeah,” Zayn commented vaguely and hauled himself up off the deep sag of their couch. “We’re gonna try it and see how it goes.”

 

Harry nodded and offered them a hollow good luck and they finished getting ready and left, Louis’ hand settling on the small of Zayn’s back as Zayn led the way out of the apartment. Louis threw a wink and a smirk over his shoulder before the door closed. Based on the sounds coming from Louis’ room later that night, it had gone well.

 

-

 

Within two weeks of Louis starting to date Zayn, Harry was spending more time at Niall and Liam’s places than he spent at home. There were only so many times that he could walk into the living room to find Louis and Zayn snogging on the couch or lose sleep over the sounds of them fucking from across the hall before Harry found that he had next to no desire to spend any time in his own home.

 

The only thing worse than the fact that it was happening and Harry had to bear witness to it was Louis’ frustrating aloofness to it all.

 

“Hey why are you never around anymore mate?” he asked one morning over toast and tea and fruit. Zayn hadn’t stayed over the night before (the sole reason Harry had) and so it was just them for once.

 

           “Been busy,” Harry mumbled around a mouthful of banana.

 

“What, and I’m not?” Louis asked with a devilish grin and jam on the corner of his mouth that Harry wanted to kiss off. “In case you hadn’t noticed I’ve got a really hot boyfriend now and I’m determined to shag him in every position conceivable.” He sipped at his tea and eyed Harry where he chewed slowly and stewed in a bitter broth of envy. “If anyone’s busy it’s me.”

 

“Yeah, my mistake,” Harry said. “You’ve got it really rough.”

 

“Have you seen all my new bruises? Rough is _exactly_ the word for it.” Louis’ smirk was wily and playful but Harry refused to take his bait. He took a long sip of his tea instead and let a loaded silence fall heavy and thick between them.

 

He came home that night to find a cold and empty apartment which was somehow worse than coming home to Louis and Zayn dry-humping like teenagers on the sofa. He made tea for one and got halfway through preparing dinner for himself before he gave in and texted Louis to find out where he was (under the guise of a text saying _if you’re not going to be home for dinner i’m not making you anything_ of course).

 

 _at z’s tonight_ , was Louis’ reply a few minutes later (seven, not that Harry’s counting). _you can have a proper night’s sleep ;)_

 

Harry texted him _have fun_ which read as feeble and pathetic to him even through text but he didn’t get a response so he assumed it hadn’t read that way to Louis. Harry buried himself in distractions and ended up with six dozen cupcakes littering his kitchen counter. He contemplating how to ice them for a moment, staring down a chocolate cupcake which began to look annoyingly similar to the colour of Zayn’s eyes the longer he looked at it. He didn’t even think before he smooshed his hand down on top of it, effectively crushing it.

 

He’d never felt more petty and immature in his life, so he tossed the crumbled remains of the Zayn cupcake into the trash and busied himself icing the abundant supply of cupcakes he’d baked. He’d deliver a healthy number of the sweets to Niall and Liam as thanks for letting him crash so often. He would give none to Zayn and Louis (who had a special love for Harry’s baking and reminded him on a weekly basis that all he wanted for his birthday forever was homemade pot brownies) and that would show them.

 

-

 

It had been nearly six days since Harry had last been alone with Louis and he was miserable. The worst part of it was that he was doing it to himself, spending most of his time at work or at Niall’s or Liam’s. (He’d taken to cooking and cleaning whenever he crashed at either of their places because he felt so guilty for couch surfing like he was. Niall and Liam told him repeatedly that it was nothing and that he could stay over whenever he wanted but they also ate all the treats that Harry baked pretty eagerly, so.)

 

In his defense, Zayn had stayed over at their place every night for the past week and Harry wasn’t really into being a third wheel all day and listening to them shag all night. So he avoided home as much as possible and on the rare occasion he was home he avoided Zayn and unfortunately Louis as well. He’d never realized just how much time they used to spend together until he was doing everything alone and wondering (not) how his life had been so boring and bleak this whole time.

 

Out of the blue on the seventh day Louis solved the issue for him, always seeing to Harry’s needs with surprising consideration. (Except for the whole ‘being hopelessly in love with him’ thing, which wasn’t Louis’ fault anyway). When Harry was just finishing cleaning up the kitchen at the end of the day he got a text from Louis suggesting a pizza and movie night on him because _i miss you h :(_.

 

Harry swung by the story to get pop and ice cream on the way home and when he got there Louis was showering and Zayn was nowhere in sight. With a little spring in his step Harry stowed their drinks away in the fridge, put the ice cream in the freezer and started up his laptop to look for movies online.

 

He froze when he heard Louis talking to someone as he made his way down the hall. His voice got louder until he emerged from the hallway on his phone and Harry breathed a sigh of relief and went back to looking for deals on pizza websites until Louis finished his call and joined him.

 

Louis flopped down on the couch next to Harry and leaned on his shoulder to see his screen. Harry tried not to melt under Louis’ weight. Louis nudged aside Harry’s hand and took over ordering pizza and Harry let him.

 

“I’m ordering one normal one before you get on here and cover yours in green shit,” Louis declared, making a pizza with pepperoni, cheese, and bacon for himself before he let Harry have the trackpad back.

 

“Then I guess you won’t be eating any of mine,” Harry said even though he knew Louis’ would sneak a piece or two of his that night or the next day when he ran out of leftover slices of his own.

 

They bickered over the merits of different types of desserts offered on the pizza site before Harry mentioned the ice cream he’d brought home and Louis approved it and submitted their order. They watched the first forty minutes of Love Actually while they waited for the pizza and paused it to go get the food and pay. Upon trying to put the movie back on they discovered that instead of pausing it Harry had stopped it and they’d have to start from the beginning. Louis immediately said; “fuck that, even Colin Firth isn’t worth it” and told Harry to pick a different movie.

 

As soon as Louis saw Harry searching for the Notebook on the TV screen he groaned but by the end he was clutching Harry’s hand and failing to hold in his sobs. The credits rolled and Louis buried his ruddy face in Harry’s shoulder. Harry wiped his own eyes and pet at Louis’ hair until he sat up and wiped his nose.

 

“What next?” Harry asked and he only had to see the glint in Louis’ eye before he was searching for an HD stream of Grease while Louis gathered up the pizza and put it in the fridge.

 

Immediately they were singing all the songs and couch dancing goofily. Harry was nearly crying laughing at Louis’ impression of Danny Zuko and Louis pinched Harry’s cheeks when he fluttered his eyelashes at him like Sandy in ‘Summer Nights.’ Everything felt like it was falling into place; like it was going back to the way it had been before.

 

Not that Zayn wasn’t a good bloke and potentially a good friend but it was hard for Harry to see past the way he was taking Louis away from Harry lately. Harry knew it wasn’t Zayn’s fault that Louis liked him in a way that he would never like Harry and it wasn’t Louis’ fault either. Harry was just constantly playing a game he was destined to lose but he’d rather suffer with Louis as his best friend and never anything more than give up and cut Louis out of his life. If anyone asked him to make that choice a hundred times, he would always choose the same way, every single time.

 

Harry was rattled out of his thoughts when Louis slapped his thigh to get his attention so they could serenade one another with ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You.’ (Harry didn’t miss the accuracy of the lyrics when applied to his life, of course. He just stowed it away as something to bring back up and cry about on his own later.)

 

There was a knock at the door and Louis immediately leapt up to his feet to go answer it. Harry should have thought more about that than he did because Louis never answered the door or the phone but a second later when Harry looked over to see who was at the door Zayn was stepping into their flat. He rested his hand on Louis’ hips and kissed him hello, then pulled away to shrug off his jacket and toe off his shoes. Louis murmured something to him quietly (Harry was too busy wallowing in his own despair to hear what they were saying) before Louis returned to the couch and Zayn went to the kitchen. He came back to the couch a few microwave beeps later and settled in on the couch next to Louis with three slices of _Harry’s veggie pizza_. Louis automatically curled against him, like a flower seeking its sun, and Harry shivered as he leaned against the arm of the couch alone. It was hard to be civil with Zayn when he was the singular focus of Louis’ life.

 

They continued to watch the film though Harry participated significantly less and when ‘Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee’ started and the Pink Ladies were all fooling around in the bedroom Harry didn’t even sing at all. Harry only looked up when his phone went off partway through the song, digging it out of the pocket of his hoodie and unlocking it.

 

His brow furrowed when he saw that Louis had texted him from the other side of the couch. _you okay h?_ Harry leaned forward to look past Zayn and Louis looked away as soon as he saw Harry looking. Harry texted him back saying he was fine and watched as Louis frowned and typed away with concentration.

 

 _we both know you never miss a chance to make fun of sandy_ , Louis argued, and before Harry could respond he got another message from Louis. _wanna talk about it?_

 

 _no, i wouldn’t want to interrupt your date_ , Harry shot back and Louis began typing immediately once he read it. He dropped his phone when Harry got up though, turning in his seat to watch Harry grab his jacket from the hall closet.

 

“Where are you going?” Louis asked, drawing Zayn’s attention away from the film. He reached to hold Louis’ hand and Louis resisted the touch, turning and sitting up on his knees on the couch.

 

“Niall’s,” Harry replied, shrugging on his jacket. “I forgot I promised to help him move some furniture.”

 

“... at 12:30 at night?” Zayn asked skeptically after he glanced at the time on the satellite box. If he was skeptical Louis was going suspicious, eyes narrowed and clearly a second away from calling Harry out on his shit.

 

“Well he just texted me about it so I guess now’s as good a time as any,” Harry replied. He shoved his feet into his boots and zipped them up, then grabbed one of Louis’ scarves and wound it around his neck.

 

“We could come with,” Louis suggested. “More hands and all.”

 

“You wouldn’t help anyways,” Zayn teased, pinching Liam’s bum. “You’d just watch us work and then drink all the beer.”

 

“Nah, I think Niall just needs a Narry bonding session,” Harry said, ignoring how Louis scowled at that. “I’ll crash at his tonight, so don’t wait up,” he said as he opened the door. “See you tomorrow, boys!”

 

Louis texted him the whole time he was on the tube to Niall’s place but he ignored every message.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little resolution and then some more conflict. enjoy!!

                Harry immediately felt awful for knocking on Niall’s door so late because it was nearly 1:30 by the time he gets there and he’s clearly woken Niall up. He rubbed at his eyes blearily but he only had to take one look at Harry before he stepped back and waved him inside.

 

                “Liam’s over so we can get cozy in my bed or you can have the couch,” Niall said, though it was mostly just a courtesy. Harry would always choose to sleep with Niall (and in this case Liam) rather than sleeping alone on Niall’s horrible lumpy sofa. It was too short for Harry and smelled musty and it was also cold and lonely so. They had made three grown men in a bed work before and Harry was sure they’d do it again.

 

                “Thanks,” Harry mumbled, giving Niall a quick tight hug as he passed. Liam emerged from Niall’s room then in joggers and what had to be one of Niall’s shirts based on how tight it was across his chest and around his biceps. Harry walked right into his arms too, slumping down and leaning on him while Niall brushed past. He flopped down on his lumpy couch (Harry inwardly cringed for the sake of Niall’s poor bum) and turned on the TV.

 

                “Mind if I put on the kettle?” Harry asked as Liam rubbed his back a little as he pulled away.

 

                “Long as you put on enough water for Payno and me too,” Niall replied, throwing his feet up in Liam’s lap as soon as he sat down on the couch. He was still flipping channels then but by the time Harry brought three steaming mugs of tea to the couch he had settled on the cooking channel, clearly with Harry in mind. They shifted until there was a spot for Harry nestled between them and took their mugs from him. Harry settled in and Niall put his legs across Harry’s lap with his arm over the back of the couch behind Harry. The weight of Niall’s legs in his lap and Liam’s thick arm bracketing him in was grounding and comfortable.

 

                They watched an American food factory show and quietly sipped their tea. Niall and Liam shot the shit and Harry offered the occasional comment but mostly just listened. It was nice and Harry was comfortable and before he knew it he was bawling.

 

                Liam cursed when he felt Harry’s sobs and curled his arm in to pull Harry in against his chest. Harry rolled into the embrace, letting Liam hold him while he sobbed into his shirt. Niall sat up properly and started rubbing at Harry’s back, gentle at first but gradually getting firmer until Harry relaxed and cried himself out. Liam’s chest and arms were warm and Niall’s hands were soothing and before long Harry was down to the occasional little hiccupping sob. He quieted down until he fell asleep, sandwiched between Liam’s warm torso and Niall’s comforting hands.

 

-

 

                Harry woke up because Niall moved out from behind him but he kept his eyes firmly shut and didn’t budge an inch from his place leaned against Liam’s chest. Harry’s head hurt and his eyes were dry and it was like being hungover but with _feelings_. He heard mugs clinking together very near to him and apparently Liam did too because his breathing changed and he shifted a little, probably uncomfortable now that he was awake. Selfish as it was, Harry pretended to be asleep for just a little while longer.

 

                Gentle fingers brushed through Harry’s hair, mindful of the tangles, and Liam’s soft voice called his name, gruff from sleep. Harry both heard it and felt it, rumbling through Liam’s chest. He lifted his head slowly and made a show of yawning in Liam’s face before he blinked one eye open.

 

                “Do I have to get up?” Harry asked, practically melting from the sweetness of Liam’s smile.

 

                “’Fraid so, H,” Niall replied as he stood next to the couch and held a steaming mug of tea just out of Harry’s easy reach while lying down. Harry was close to calling Niall a tea-bearing angel but then he was forcing Harry to sit up so Harry revoked his angelic status. He would have to earn that back.

 

                (He earned it back when he put Harry to sleep with another back rub. Liam got his when he agreed to watch Love Actually on Niall’s laptop because he hadn’t gotten to watch the whole thing the night before.)

 

-

 

                Harry managed to laze around Niall’s place until early afternoon when Niall emerged from his bathroom dressed in his work shirt, and Harry struggled to think of an excuse not to go home.

 

                “Wait, don’t you not work until this evening?” Harry asked when Niall told him he and Liam would have to go home.

 

                “I’m going in early,” Niall said coolly.

 

                “Four and a half hours early?” Harry asked.

 

                “Some of us are hard-working contributing members of society,” Niall said, heartlessly throwing out one of Louis’ favourite lines, though usually it didn’t hurt this much to hear it. “We can’t all bake fucking bread for a living, Harold.” Niall finished in a perfect impression of Louis’ accent and tone which had Liam snickering.

 

                (Angel status revoked for both of them, especially Niall.)

 

-

 

                Louis wasn’t home when Harry finally dragged himself back to their flat which meant that there was no one to hover around him or ask him questions. He was grateful for it when he crawled into bed and passedy out again. He’d gotten plenty of sleep at Niall’s but he was emotionally exhausted and fell asleep only a few minutes after burrowing under the covers.

 

                Louis was definitely home when Harry woke up given the tattooed arms wrapped around him and the slim body pressed against him from behind. It took Harry a long time to shake off the fog of sleep and in his disoriented state he let out a long breath through his nose and clung to the arm thrown over his side and across his chest. Louis squeezed him tighter now that he knew he was awake and Harry only enjoyed the warm familiar feeling for a moment before he was flooded with dread upon remembering everything. Louis wasn’t his to wake up next to and cuddle with.

 

                With great restraint, Harry pushed Louis’ arm off him and burrowed deeper in the covers and away from Louis. After a moment Louis sat up on one elbow and tried to tug the blankets down away from his face. Harry let him but kept his gaze locked on the wall beside his bed.

 

                “... is this it?” Louis asked, voice so small and defeated that Harry had to fight not to turn and look at him. He sounded like a beaten puppy and Harry knew that if he had to see that hurt expression on Louis’ face, he’d crumble instantly. “Is this your way of saying you want to move out?”

 

                Harry did sit up at that, understandably alarmed. He turned to look over his shoulder at Louis and found Louis staring down at his fingers where they picked at his nails.

 

                “What?” Harry croaked, frantic in spite of how he was trying to ignore Louis. That plan was gone now anyways – Louis looked torn between bolting and clinging to Harry and bawling and no matter how upset Harry was at Louis, a crying Louis was just something that Harry could not allow to go on.

 

                “Of course, if you wanted me to move out and you can stay in the flat that’d be fine too,” Louis stammered, completely misunderstanding Harry’s reaction. “I mean my name is on the lease so we’ll have to change it and you’ll need to find someone to-“

 

                “Lou, no,” Harry insisted, but Louis went on.

 

                “It’s just that you’re never home and when we did get time to hang out you took off,” Louis explained all in a rush. “Were you serious about shagging Niall? Not that I’m saying you can’t but-“

 

                “I’m not shagging Niall,” Harry said firmly. “Not that he’s not fairly shaggable, but he’s practically my brother so.”

 

                Harry felt more than saw the minute shrug Louis offered, eyes averted. “You’re just always at his place or Liam’s. I know I’m the messiest and I never do the washing up and I never make my bed. Would you rather live with one of those guys?”

 

                “No,” Harry replied without hesitation. “I’m so used to all that stuff that none of it bothers me.” He smiled a little, staring at Louis’ hands which were still fidgety. He sat up properly and took them in his to stop Louis’ twitching. His long fingers and wide palms dwarfed Louis’ smaller hands. “I think it’d be weird if you suddenly became a clean, considerate flatmate.”

 

                “Then why are you never home?” Louis asked, thick-voiced and teary again. “Fuck, Zayn is here more than you.”

 

                Harry didn’t respond to that but he could see the realization dawning on Louis’ face. “I am the biggest wanker on the face of the planet,” he said, brows furrowing. “I’m so sorry Haz. I don’t know how I didn’t realize that all the time you were gone, he was here.”

 

                “It’s not your fault,” Harry said immediately when he saw the guilt on Louis’ face. “It’s not Zayn’s fault either. Please look at me, Lou. Please, it’s not your fault, it’s mine, I-“

 

                “Maybe it’s not my fault it happened, but you’ve been upset and I haven’t noticed at all,” Louis sniffed loudly, leaning on one arm and scrubbing at his eyes with his free hand. “Good friends notice when their friends are unhappy. I’m an arsehole.”

 

                Harry shrugged. He couldn’t deny that. Louis had been single-minded lately. “I just missed hanging out with you. Just you.”

 

                Louis nodded and when he spoke again he was probably less than ten seconds from breaking down and crying. “I miss everything we do.”

 

                The dam broke then and Harry surged forward, wrapping his arms around Louis’ middle and burying his face in Louis’ chest. Louis’ arms came up reflexively, hugging Harry tight against him. Harry started crying nearly immediately. He felt the first sob erupt in Louis’ chest, tremors running through his body to Harry’s and setting him off too.

 

                They held each other as they cried for some time after that. Every time Harry thought that Louis was done he’d squeeze Harry tighter and a fresh wave of sobs would hitch in Harry’s chest. Louis smelled like Zayn and Harry hated it a little, missed Louis’ old smell.

 

                (Harry doubted that ‘being madly in one-sided love’ was something of Louis’ list of what good friends did. He supposed that probably made him an absolutely horrible friend.)

 

-

 

                “You sorted your shit out then?” Niall asked while they waited for Louis and Liam to settle the bill at the end of one of their lads’ pub nights. Harry just raised his eyebrows so Niall elaborated. “You’re living at home again so I figured you and your boy kissed and made up.”

 

                “Oh. Yeah, we did,” Harry said, watching Louis chat up the bartender while he waited for change. He looked back at Niall and grinned. “Why? You miss me?”

 

                “Not you,” Niall snorted. “Miss your constant baking. Liam does too no matter how much he whinges about having to work ‘em off at the gym.”

 

                Harry bit his lip and shrugged. “Have to come ‘round ours, then. I make cupcakes for Lou pretty much every other week.” But only when Zayn’s not around. When Zayn’s in the house Harry suddenly has an insatiable need to do laundry. It’s nothing against Zayn, Harry just has a limited supply of socks and underwear.

 

                Liam and Louis finished settling the bill and joined the rest of the group. From there they all agreed to go back to Louis and Harry’s place (if only for the pull-out nature of the couch in their living room for Liam and Niall to crash on) and took the bus there.

 

                Louis went to gather beers for everyone and Niall and Liam took up most of the couch so Harry is forced to take the last free spot after he fires up the Wii.

 

                “Oi!” Louis shouts as he comes back with four beers and no spot to sit on the couch. Harry tried to make himself smaller but his shoulders were wide and his legs were long and Niall and Liam did literally nothing to help the situation, just taking their beers off Louis before he could decide to stop them.

 

                Harry tried to nudge Liam to move over but he didn’t budge and he pretended he didn’t hear him when Harry asked him to move. Harry was just about to employ underhanded tickling tactics when Louis unceremoniously plopped down in his lap. Louis spilled beer on his own shirt before he passed the bottle to Harry and took the controller from his slack fingers. Harry was too busy trying not to choke on his own tongue as Louis wriggled around in his lap until he was comfortable.

 

                Over the course of their Mario Kart session Louis slid further down in Harry’s lap until he was sitting on the couch between Harry’s legs instead of on his dick so that was both an improvement and a disappointment. His Mario Kart game improved significantly when he didn’t have a lapful of Louis, so that was something, he supposed. Louis still whooped and cheered and wiggled when he won in a way that was not at all beneficial to Harry’s dignity. He didn’t say a word in complaint though, just mussed up Louis’ hair and tickled him occasionally in an effort to make him drive off the edge of the road.

 

                Near the end of the night when Louis won one of the races through sheer underhandedness, he cheered and yelled and generally made a nuisance of himself, clutching at Harry’s shoulders and smacking kisses against his cheeks. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Liam hide a grin in his bottle of beer and caught Niall eyeing the display with a sly grin.

 

                A moment after Louis had settled down and slumped to rest with his head on Harry’s chest Niall made a show of checking his phone for the time. “Well lads, think it’s about time we turned in.”

 

                Liam caught on to Niall’s game and started agreeing with him, even interrupting himself with a dramatic yawn before he finished saying; “Yeah, I’m beat. Could use a night’s rest.”

 

                Louis probably said something in protest but given how he had made a nice pillow out of Harry’s pecs he probably didn’t get a say.

 

                “Alright well Haz, since Tommo’s near passed out on you already you can take him to your bed and Payno n’ me will take his,” Niall declared with a wily smirk before he tacked on; “and hope he’s washed his sheets this year.”

 

                Liam grimaced and Louis reached over to pinch Niall without lifting his head from Harry’s tits and they all had a chuckle over that. Then Liam got up and went about gathering up the empties and bringing them to the bin while Niall helped Harry gather a borderline-comatose Louis into his arms to pick him up. Harry held Louis against his chest and in his arms and shot a little smirk at Niall who just clapped him on the back and shooed him off down the hall.

 

                Louis only woke up when Harry laid him down on the bed as carefully as he could and even then it was only long enough to tug Harry into bed with him and strip him of both their trousers. Which Harry had to be professional about. He struggled not to pop a boner while Louis was unbuttoning his jeans and his knuckles brushed Harry’s pelvis. Harry’s a _really_ good friend with impressive restraint. Probably a result of all the practice he’s had.

 

                “Night Hazza,” Louis sighed, rolling Harry over and spooning in behind him once Harry’s jeans were tossed over the edge of the bed.

 

                “Night boo bear,” Harry murmured, relaxing into the body behind him. The last thing he thought before Louis’ deep breathing put him to sleep as that if they could stay in this place, straddling the fence between best friend and boyfriend levels of affection, he could be happy even if Louis was with Zayn.

 

-

 

                Harry liked his job and he liked his coworkers but sometimes after a long week he just wanted to go home and relax. So when Harry’s boss poked her head into the kitchen right after lunch on Friday afternoon and informed him that she was closing early, he was relieved. He finished up what he was working on and cleaned up and then he was free to go a good two hours earlier than usual.

 

                He thought about texting Louis asking if he needed anything while he was out but decided against it – he would go home and either surprise Louis then or cook dinner and surprise him with that whenever he got home. Getting off early was a great start to his weekend and he intended to make the most of it.

 

                When he walked into the flat and didn’t find Louis in the living room or the kitchen he paused. Louis could have gone somewhere on his day off but he had told Harry the night before that he’d just be taking it easy at home all day. He couldn’t hear the shower running so that didn’t explain where Louis was – but in straining to hear the water running he heard Louis talking to someone in his bedroom, behind the closed door.

 

                He got a devious idea in his head and carefully took his shoes off at the door, a silently as he could, and crept to Louis’ bedroom door in just his socks. Just as he was poised and ready to burst into the room and scare Louis and make him yelp and swear and embarrass himself while he was on the phone, he heard another voice that made him freeze. He’d know that accent anywhere.

 

                “What the hell does that even _mean_ , Louis?” Zayn practically spat and Harry was taken aback by the venom in his usually calm and unaffected voice. Louis didn’t respond for about ten seconds before Zayn spoke again. “Louis. You can’t just bring something like that up and then drop it.”

 

                “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Louis offered and based on Zayn’s response, it really was.

 

                “I can’t see how you could think it’s not bad,” Zayn fumed. “It’s bad enough that you did something so manipulative to me, but did you stop and think for even a second about how this feels to _Harry_?”

 

                Harry had almost pressed his ear to the door to hear every word of this conversation at this point. Louis spoke up again. “I was an arsehole about that, yeah. I didn’t realize it before because I was so focused on you.” He paused then and Harry heard Zayn scoff so that must not have scored Louis any points like he had probably hoped it would. He went on. “Now that I realize what I’ve put him through I hate myself for it. He’s such a great friend who would do anything for me and I _used_ him.”

 

                “Congratulations on your epiphany. While your guilt is all well and good, you need to tell me why you came to me with this.” Zayn, who always seemed so indulgent with Louis and never got rattled by his ridiculousness, was as close to shouting as Harry had ever heard him. Harry was edging more towards the word ‘hysterical’ with every word he spoke. “Not to sound self-centered, ‘cause that’s all on you these days, but what does that have to do with me?”

 

                “Because I think I’m falling for him,” Louis said and Harry’s heart might have stopped. He had to shake out of his shock though, lest he miss Louis’ explanation. “We’ve been spending more time together and doing all the things that we used to before I met you and I realized how much I missed him and how much he means to me,” Louis paused and Harry could hear the deep breath he took before he went on. “And something just _clicked_ in the last week or so. I... don’t know how I didn’t realize before,” Louis was mumbling by this point but he spoke up when Zayn started moving.

 

                “Where are you going?” he asked, voice thick, and Harry heard footsteps. He scrambled across the hall and into his bedroom as quickly and quietly as he could. He pressed the door shut just as Louis’ opened and he held his breath on his side of the door.

 

                “Anywhere but here,” Zayn snapped. He stomped about three steps into the hall and Louis’ quick footsteps followed him.

 

                “I thought we were going strong,” Louis protested. “I thought we were holding on,” The footsteps stopped, presumably because Zayn paused. “Aren’t we?”

 

                When Zayn spoke again he sounded breathless and angry. “I’m leaving.”

 

                “This is it?” Louis asked. “This is you breaking up with me?”

 

                There was a rustle by the door and Harry imagined it might have been Zayn putting on his jacket and pulling on his shoes. “I don’t – I. I have no idea, Louis. I just need some space so I’ll – I’ll call you when I’m ready to talk to you again.”

 

                The door slammed and the silence in the flat was deafening, broken only by Louis’ quiet sniffles.

 

                (The next morning Harry woke to an empty apartment and a note stuck to the fridge announcing that Louis had impulsively decided to go home to his mum’s for a few days. That he was missing his family. If Zayn needed space he was certainly getting it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry not sorry


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's a couple hours late but here it is! enjoy!! also thanks to my homie g kate for the speed beta

Two days after Louis left there was a knock at the door of the flat and Zayn was on the doorstep, looking sheepish and guilty and a bunch of other things Harry had to pretend not to understand.

 

“Left some of my stuff here,” Zayn mumbled, looking past Harry’s left ear to fake eye contact. “Just gotta grab a couple of things, like, if you’ll just...”

 

Harry stammered an apology and stepped back to let Zayn past and into the flat. He floundered in the doorway for a moment before Harry closed the door and went back to the kitchen, leaving him to his business.

 

Zayn disappeared down the hall and into Louis’ room. He came back out with his large sketchbook and a mess of his art supplies. He shoved his supplies into the bag he’d brought and fumbled with his sketchbook, which was too large for the bag. Harry watched him try in vain and only thought about it for a moment before he asked; “Wanna stay for dinner?”

 

“...what?” Zayn asked, looking up from his struggle to look at Harry where he stood in the kitchen corner of the flat.

 

“I – uhm – I made extra,” Harry explained. “Used to cooking for two, and all.” He let that comment sit and broke eye contact with Zayn, looking down at the pan he was grilling the chicken in. “Are you hungry?”

 

“Yeah,” Zayn replied after a long pause. “I could eat.”

 

A moment later Zayn had taken his jacket off and was busy making place settings on the coffee table while Harry plated up their dinner. Harry grabbed the plates and Zayn grabbed the beers and they settled down in the living room, places balanced on their laps. Zayn looked down at the plate Harry had given him and snorted, making Harry look over at him from where he’d been channel surfing. He made an inquisitive noise, eyebrows knit together as he prepared for the worst.

 

“Shit, you’re not a vegetarian or lactose intolerant or something, are you?” Harry asked, feeling guilt and concern and everything at once. It made him realize how little he knew about Zayn (which made sense because he’d been actively avoiding Zayn for months, but still) given he was his best friend’s boyfriend who had practically made their flat his second home.

 

“No,” Zayn laughed, gesturing with his fork at his plate. “It’s just that this meal is the only thing Louis’ ever cooked for me. I think it’s the only thing he knows how to cook, honestly.”

 

“It is,” Harry chuckled. “The first time he ever cooked anything was when he made this for me for the first time.” If Louis was here he’d wistfully sigh ‘the start of an era,’ since that’s what he did any time it got brought up. “He gets so excited about it too,” Harry went on. “He’s like ‘chicken, stuffed with mozzarella, wrapped in parma ham, with a side of homemade mash,” Harry said in his best Louis impression, pleased that Zayn did the hand gestures with him.

 

It was bad enough that Harry thought about Louis every second of every day but having Zayn here talking about him made the missing worse. Harry tried to avoid the topic of Louis but it was what they had in common.

 

“Wanna play Mario Kart?” Harry asked, breaking their most awkward silence yet in a last ditch attempt to salvage this social interaction. They’d finished eating a while ago and Harry had cleared away their dishes so that excuse not to talk was gone. If Zayn said no to Mario Kart Harry would use washing the dishes as an escape for a few minutes.

 

“Sure,” Zayn said, rubbing his hands against his thighs a couple of times before he took the controller Harry offered him. Three rounds into an aggressive Mario Kart session that seemed to work wonders for coaxing Zayn out of his shell if the amount of shoulder checking and swearing he was doing was any indication, Harry’s phone went off. He’d already lost the race anyway so he let his car go off the side of the track and checked his messages. Niall was suggesting sushi and then hanging out at Liam’s place and Harry nearly typed out a yes on instinct when he remembered Zayn.

 

“Do you wanna go hang out with Liam and Niall?” Harry asked Zayn, who started like he’d forgotten other people exist, and bit his lip for a moment before he shook his head.

 

“Thanks, but I actually gotta get going,” Zayn said, as if Harry had forgotten how Zayn had swung in to pick something up and had stayed an extra two hours. “I’ll see you around, Harry. Thanks for dinner.”

 

“Thank  _you_ for the company,” Harry said with a grin, watching Zayn gather up his stuff and put on his jacket and leave with one last wave over his shoulder. The door closed and Harry was alone again. He heaved a sigh and snagged his phone off the table, leaning his elbows on his knees as he texted Niall back  _already ate but i’m down for hanging out. text me when you’re leaving the sushi place_ before he locked his phone. He fiddled with his case for a second before he unlocked his phone again and opened his chat thread with Louis.

 

_it’s really hard here without you. the flat is empty and quiet and i hate it_ , Harry typed out, then deleted it right away. That sounded like some boring journal entry.  _zayn came over today and we ate chicken stuffed with_ – Harry erased that before he’d even finished the thought because it was dumb. He settled for  _i miss you. come back soon_ and hit send before he could overthink it and delete it.

 

-

It took a few days of Zayn spending all his free time at the flat for Harry to convince Zayn to come out with him and Liam and Niall but when he did it was spectacular.

 

They were just going out to the pub and getting a few drinks but before long it became clear that it was going to be the kind of night where Niall and Liam were going to have to help them walk to the car and help them into bed. Liam had to work the next day so he’d volunteered to DD but Niall was even taking it slow when he saw how trashed Harry and Zayn were rapidly getting.

 

“I wish Lou was here,” Zayn declared when Liam was shoving him into the back seat of his car.

 

“Yes, we all miss him,” Liam said but Zayn went on like he hadn’t spoken.

 

“You don’t understand. If he was here I could kiss him,” Zayn explained. “Like, on his  _face_.”

 

“I thought you were fighting,” Harry mumbled, remembering a second too late how as far as Zayn knew no one has overhead their argument.

 

“We’re on the mend,” Zayn replied and the relief Harry felt from Zayn not calling him out was squashed by this new information. Harry had gotten some texts back from Louis and he hadn’t mentioned that. He hadn’t mentioned Zayn at all, which had made Harry hopeful.

 

“Oh,” Harry said, a little out of breath as Niall smushed him into the car with Zayn. It took some squirming and bony elbows and knees to guts and balls before they were right way up and helping each other do up their seatbelts. They ended up dissolving into laughter and Niall and Liam had had to buckle them in but they got it done. Zayn only grabbed Liam’s dick a little before he got Zayn’s buckle done up with a click. He let out a long-suffering sigh and got into the driver’s seat with a cackling Niall taking shotgun.

 

To avoid further dick touching Niall helped Zayn out of the car, much to Zayn’s displeasure. He said something about Liam’s big strong arms and Liam hurried to get Harry in the lobby of the building and into the elevator. They watched the elevator door close before Niall could get Zayn in the front door and Harry teased Liam about Zayn, watching his cheeks go red and hot when he pinched one. They made it up to Harry’s flat and in the door before Niall and Zayn caught up with them.

 

“Liam would have carried me,” Zayn declared when Niall let him go to take off his shoes and jacket. “He always used to.”

 

“And you used to be a much quieter drunk,” Liam commented. “You’ve been spending too much time with Louis.” Harry felt inclined to agree, thinking back to the first time they’d gone to the club with Zayn and how he’d been so reserved. He liked this better though; Zayn reminded Harry more of Louis this way and it was easy to hang off of Zayn and enjoy him being clingy when it made him think of Louis.

 

“It doesn’t matter what you think because I don’t like you anymore, Li,” Zayn decided, fumbling to find Niall’s hand and tangle their fingers together. “I like you now. Wanna get me a drink, Baby Spice?” Zayn grinned up at Niall then, pressing his tongue against the back of his teeth and waggling his eyebrows.

 

“Nope,” Niall said. “You’re off to bed. Both of you.”

 

“But it’s so early,” Harry whined, not even budging when Liam tugged at his hand. Childish as it was, if Zayn was staying up he would be too. He wouldn’t miss fun things just because Liam was determined to take him to bed and tuck him in.

 

“If we’re going to bed you should stay with us until we fall asleep,” Zayn suggested.

 

“You just want a cuddle pile,” Liam said, narrowing his eyes at Zayn who just shrugged, unable to deny it. A cuddle pile sounded perfect to Harry. Or, almost perfect if Louis were in it too.

 

“We should call him,” Zayn decided even though Harry didn’t realize he’d expressed that sentiment aloud. It was possibly the best idea Harry had ever heard in his life which was probably why Liam immediately wrestled him to the floor and confiscated his phone. Zayn got to Louis’ contact and was just about to press the call button when Niall went flying at him, knocking him back flat on the couch. His phone went skittering across the floor and Liam apprehended it and went down the hall, supposedly to hide both phones somewhere secure where Harry and Zayn wouldn’t be able to find them.

 

Harry watched him disappear and then turned his attention back to Niall and Zayn wrestling until Niall sat down on him and pinned him face-down on the couch. Harry made a move to get up but Niall gave him a look that had him sitting back down on the couch.

 

Liam came back out to the living room and when he saw the sorry state of the boys on the couch he paused. “Okay,” he began. “Here’s what we’ll do. I’m going to dial Louis’ number put it on speaker and hold the phone and you two can talk to him. Then I can hear everything and I can hang up if things get too stupid.”

 

Harry and Zayn agreed to it immediately – Harry because he was so desperate to talk to Louis and Zayn for reasons Harry didn’t want to think about. Liam dialled for them and held the phone to his ear. He frowned as he let it ring.

 

“It went to voicemail,” Liam told them. “He must be busy.” Zayn flailed an arm out from under Niall and made grabby hands for Liam’s phone.

 

“Wanna leave a message,” Zayn said, spitting the cushion out of his mouth. “Tell him I miss him, like.”

 

“Me too,” Harry piped in. If Zayn was going to leave a message for Louis then Harry would too. Niall let Zayn up and Harry scooted in against Zayn’s side on the couch so he could be heard on the phone too. Liam held on for another second before he held the phone out. “Okay, go.”

 

“Louis,” Harry blurted out, faltering and pausing when he heard that Zayn had done the same. They laughed it off and then each launched into loud greetings. It took them a couple of tries before they were taking turns talking but once they sorted it out they  _rambled_. Liam finally cut them off after they had spent two solid minutes waxing poetic about Louis’ bum. How they segued from his pretty eyelashes to how they needed to find out if they could literally bounce a quarter off his arse was a mystery to Harry.

 

“That’s enough of that,” Liam mumbled as he hung up and pocketed his phone, to loud protests from Harry and Zayn.

 

“Call him back, we need to say proper goodbyes,” Zayn demanded and Harry nodded earnestly.

 

“I’ll text him you said goodnight and that you love him,” Liam said and Harry squinted at him, sending Niall off in a fresh wave of giggles from his spot leaning against the back of the couch and watching Zayn and Harry embarrass themselves.

 

“With hugs and kisses,” Harry said, voice on the sly persuasive side, like he was trying to strike a bargain.

 

“Yeah, exes and ohs,” Zayn agreed. “And like, a heart emoji.”

 

Liam hummed and hawed over that for a second before he gave in. “Fine. One heart.” Zayn and Harry tried to high five and missed spectacularly. “It’s bedtime for everyone now.”

 

“You our dad now?” Harry snorted, practically making Niall squeal with laughter.

 

“Gonna take us to bed, daddy?” Zayn asked, voice low and smooth, making Liam flush in a way that made Harry really fucking hope that it wasn’t ever an actual  _thing_ between them.

 

“C’mon lads, leave big daddy Payno alone,” Niall said, not quite taking pity on Liam. “Think he’ll combust if he blushes any harder.”

 

“That’s enough from you,” Liam said, giving Niall a look. “We’re all going to bed now.  _Separate_ beds,” Liam added as Zayn tried to propose a cuddle pile again.

 

“Spoilsport,” he mumbled, letting out a petulant huff.

 

-

 

Harry woke up with a warm chest pressed against his back and groggily concluded that he could die happy if someone was cuddling with him at the time. He shifted a little and tugged his big spoon’s arm tighter over his side. The fabric of the other man’s sleeve dragged against his bare ribcage and Harry shivered at how it tickled him.

 

Without meaning to he thought of the last time he’d woken up cuddled with someone he didn’t fall asleep with. It was easy to imagine turning over and being nose to nose with Louis, taking in his scent and breathing the same air as him and generally being as melded as they could be without climbing into the other’s skin.

 

Realization settled on him like a wet blanket, heavy and cold and constricting. Harry cracked his eyes open and glanced down, and the second he was met with the sight of Zayn’s ZAP! tattoo inked into the arm Zayn had thrown over him, he made an effort to squirm for freedom.

 

Like some deep sea tentacled creature Zayn only held on tighter. Harry took Zayn’s slim wrist and tried to disentangle his bony limbs. Not quite awake but stirring after being moved, Zayn groaned and clung to him and Harry gradually slipped out of Zayn’s embrace, careful not to wake him up.

 

When Harry finally got to his feet and tiptoed most of the way to the door he heard fabric rustle and turned to watch Zayn roll over into the warm space Harry had left in his wake.

 

“S’cold without you,” Zayn mumbled from his place submerged in the covers. Harry slowly pulled open the door, but froze when Zayn spoke next. “Come back to bed, Lou.”

 

Harry was out of the room and closing the door behind him before he could take another breath.

 

Harry walked stiffly to the kitchen and turned on the kettle. He didn’t particularly want tea – didn’t particularly want anything other than to flop face first in his bed and suffocate in his pillow – but waiting for the water to boil gave him something to occupy his time with, even only a few minutes of it.

 

“Alright there?” Niall asked from the sofa and Harry started, clutching at the counter with one hand and the fabric over his racing heart with the other.

 

“Jesus  _Christ_ Niall,” he gasped, leaning back against the counter. “Didn’t even see you.”

 

“Yeah, I noticed,” Niall said. “Too focused on trying not to puke everywhere, I think.”

 

“Might happen yet,” Harry despaired. He poured himself a glass of water while he waited for his kettle and watched Niall crunch away at his bowl of corn flakes. He made his tea and took it over to the sofa where he sat down next to Niall. “So what happened last night?” he asked, gingerly sipping his tea.

 

“You don’t remember anything?” Niall asked around a mouthful of cereal that did nothing to lessen the glee in his voice at the concept which. Definitely didn’t bode well for Harry’s dignity.

 

“The last thing I remember is calling Louis,” Harry admitted. Surely nothing could be more embarrassing than that, right?

 

“Oh, you didn’t forget much then,” Niall said. “Liam decided we should put you and Zayn to bed when you were holding each other and crying about Louis’ cheekbones.”

 

Harry sighed, tapping his fingers on the outside of his mug. “Anything else?”

 

“Zayn attempted to describe shagging Lou well enough that you would understand. Apparently his rimjobs are a religious experience,” Niall recalled. “His exact words.”

 

Harry groaned and flopped his head back against the back of the couch. “And?”

 

“That’s about it aside from the killer love bites Zayn gave Liam when he was trying to put him to bed,” Niall said. “You should see ‘em, we had to raid your bathroom to find some make-up to cover them up before Li went to work. It’s a good thing Gemma forgot some here last time she visited.”

 

Right. It was  _Gemma’s_ make-up. Of course. “Has Louis texted back about the message we left?”

 

“About that,” Niall began and Harry’s head snapped up to stare at him.

 

“What?” Harry asked. “Niall, what?”

 

“Liam might have lied to you about calling Lou,” Niall said. “He might’ve opened his recording app and saved several copies of you and Zayn rambling about Louis’ arse to various devices to pull out whenever he needs to coerce you into doing things for him.”

 

“...no fucking way,” Harry choked, clapping a hand over his mouth.

 

“Yeah, I was surprised too. He’s really a lot more devious than I give him credit for-“ Niall cut himself off, cackling as he watched Harry leap to his feet and sprint to the sink to be sick.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry tried to hang out with Zayn after that night but things were just weird. Nothing had changed but Harry was just so much more conscious of Zayn – of his smell and his heat and his proximity when he sat next to Harry, of their thighs being pressed together, of the casual touches passing between them for the most mundane of reasons. Every touch with Zayn was different and their banter was loaded in a way it only ever was with Louis before. He felt like he was betraying Louis kind of, maybe not even because Zayn was his boyfriend, but because he was having feelings for Zayn that were entirely reserved for Louis. Harry shook that thought away. He couldn’t be cheating on someone who wasn’t even his boyfriend.

“Louis told me about the whole plot he had to fuck me,” Zayn commented as if from nowhere one day when they were watching footie. As far as he knew Zayn didn’t particularly care for it and neither did he but it was habitual after being around Louis so much. “How he acted like you were together to make me jealous.”

 

Harry shrugged. “Worked, didn’t it?”

 

Zayn flushed the tiniest bit. “Doesn’t it bother you that he used you? Like, I can’t tell you to be upset for me, but what he did to you was pretty shitty too.”

 

“Just helping out my best friend,” Harry said mildly.

 

Zayn eyed him. “You and I both know he’s more than that.” Harry didn’t respond, feeling numb, so Zayn went on. “I could tell as soon as I saw you with him at that party, when he was all over you. You look at him like he’s a god. I probably would have tried harder to hook up with one or both of you if you didn’t look so, like, mad for each other.” He smiled a little, but it was sad. “Didn’t think I had a chance.”

 

“Well it’s a good thing that wasn’t the case then isn’t it?” Harry almost snapped. He made a conscious effort to school his tone into a more appropriate one – he wasn’t mad at Zayn, Zayn didn’t do anything wrong – before he spoke again. “Lou wanted to be with you from the first time he saw you and now he is. He’s my friend and he’s happy and I helped him get there. That’s it, so can we drop it?”

 

“If you want,” Zayn said, though Harry could tell he was far from swayed from his opinion. Apparently he had more of an issue with Louis hurting Harry than with Harry being hopelessly in love with him which was a bit backwards in Harry’s mind. Zayn looked down at his hands when they fiddled with his phone and for a second Harry saw Zayn’s lock screen which was a picture of his family. “I’m trying to forgive him but I’m struggling ‘cause I don’t know how.”

 

Harry didn’t respond to that, even though he was so experienced in the field of forgiving Louis for literally everything that he could have taught the advanced placement class in it.

 

Zayn changed the topic back to the game on the TV and Harry was thankful for it. It gave him something to pretend to focus on while he digested everything Zayn had told him and what he had overheard over a week ago. He’d been confused and anxious (and a little bit overjoyed) to learn that Louis had at least something like romantic feelings for him. As if that wasn’t enough, these conflicting feelings he’d developed when he’d been trying only to be civil and friendly to Zayn were definitely more than Harry bargained for. Why couldn’t he just quietly pine after Louis in silence forever? What had been wrong with that (besides everything)?

 

Harry thought maybe the little sort-of argument he’d had with Zayn would put to rest some of the increasingly fond feelings Harry had been having for him but within an hour the atmosphere had gone back to the way it had been before. They still hung out when they were both free and Harry still felt sparks fly every time they touched. He felt guilty having feelings like these for anyone other than Louis, and for having them for Louis’ boyfriend of all people.

 

Zayn moved slightly and Harry saw it out of the corner of his eye, breaking him from his thoughts. When he saw Harry looking, Zayn offered him a smile and without thinking Harry smiled back. He tried to stamp down the giddy jump he felt in his abdomen and how Zayn kept grinning even as he looked back at the TV. Zayn was a Louis substitute until Louis came back and Harry only liked him because he was feeling lonely and missing his best friend. Of course. As soon as Louis came back his feelings for Zayn would completely disappear and Harry would be back to helplessly pining after Louis forever like normal.

 

-

 

Harry came home from work nine days after Louis had left (but who’s counting? Definitely not Harry) and immediately took a shower. Zayn had texted him that morning to suggest they hang out that evening and watch films and eat a metric fuckton of the desserts Harry had baked on his last day off. Harry had responded with an enthusiastic yes that morning but unfortunately as he was toweling off after the shower the weight of his day was settling on him and making him feel exhausted.

 

_knackered after work so i’m taking a nap_ , Harry texted Zayn after he’d pulled on a pair of pants and curled up in his bed. _let yourself in and wake me up if i’m not already awake when you get here_. Zayn responded with _k_ and that was the last thing Harry saw before he fell asleep.

 

Harry woke up to darkness, and he slowly registered that no light filtered in through his curtains so it had gotten dark since he fell asleep. He shook off the last cloudy fragments of the dream he’d had in which Louis had crawled into bed with him and spooned him like he had probably dozens of times and spat his own hair out of his mouth as he fumbled for his phone. He checked the time and gaped at it a little as he saw that he had accidentally napped for close to three hours. He also noticed he had no new messages or texts and given how late Zayn was he expected a missed call or a text about running late or bailing on their plans. He pulled on a shirt once he crawled out from under the warm covers and went out to the kitchen to make some tea and text Zayn.

 

Harry froze in the doorway of his bedroom when he heard a voice coming from the living room and after he recognized it as Zayn’s he crept down the hall, silent in his bare feet until he saw Zayn over the back of the couch. He appeared to be alone which made Harry wonder who he was talking to but then he heard a second voice that made his heart stop stone cold in his chest. He came alive all at once when he heard Louis’ voice, tripping on one of the shoes by the door ( _Louis_ ’, and fuck, he’d never been particularly bothered by how Louis just kicked his shoes off at the door but now he was elated with the familiar mess) and cursed softly.

 

“Harry?” Louis asked, his head popping up over the back of the couch as he sat up to look back at Harry. Zayn turned to look at Harry too but he had eyes only for Louis. Harry watched as his eyes crinkled up at the corners and his smile felt blindingly bright after all this time. He held his arms up then and made a motion to draw Harry in closer. “Come here, sunshine. You look like you could use a hug.”

 

Harry stumbled as he made his way to the couch and more or less rolled over the back of it. Louis’ breath whooshed out in a wheezy laugh when Harry landed on top of him. Louis had been laid out across the couch with his head on Zayn’s lap so when Harry landed and settled he was spread out on top of Louis, his knees bent and legs parted on either side of Louis’ thighs. He buried his face in Louis’ chest and tried not to cry at the enormous swell of relief and happiness that threatened to burst from his chest.

 

He hiccupped like he was going to start crying and Louis’ arms wrapped tight around him and rubbed his back soothingly. “Shh,” Louis cooed. “Just settle down and we’ll have a cuddle. Zaynie could do with a good cuddle, couldn’t you babe?”

 

Zayn’s fingers found their way into Harry’s hair and he alternated between stroking it back and massaging Harry’s scalp. All the comforting touches and the warm familiar good-smelling boy underneath him had him settling down quickly... even if he did feel pretty embarrassed that he was straddling Louis right in front of (pretty much on top of, actually) his boyfriend.

 

“So when did you get back?” Harry asked, clearing his throat when his voice came out gruff since he’d just gotten up. It was better than coming out shaky and blubbery like he’d thought it would, he supposed.

 

“Couple hours ago,” Louis replied. His hands had nudged Zayn’s away because Harry could feel him moving hair as he braided it. “Got home to find the place empty until I found you asleep in your room.” Harry felt fleeting pressure on the top of his head and imagined Louis pressing a kiss to his curls. “You looked quite cozy so I stripped down and joined you.” Harry thought back to what he had figured had been a dream and hid his burning face in Louis’ shirt. He hadn’t even tried to make sense of Louis crawling into bed with him and had just accepted it. He felt like a cuddle slut of the highest degree. “Then Zayn showed up and woke me up and you were cute so we decided to leave you sleeping.”

 

“You were cherubic, like,” Zayn agreed.

 

“Ooh, good word,” Louis commented.

 

Harry settled back into the friendly banter passing between Louis and Zayn happily and he nearly fell asleep again on top of Louis. The last thing he heard before he fell asleep was Zayn asking; “Did you, like, ever get that message we left a few days ago?”

 

“What message?” Louis asked, confused as to why Zayn relaxed and Harry tensed up for completely different reasons.

 

-

 

Harry spent the next few days glued to Louis’ side every second that they weren’t at their respective jobs. This meant he also spent every waking moment with Zayn, which definitely wasn’t the torture he had considered it to be two weeks ago. Things were great with Harry actually – the time Louis had taken for himself had made him much closer with Zayn so hanging out with both of them was much less third-wheelish than it had felt. (Though it was hard to not think of Louis saying ‘I think I’m falling for him.’ It practically echoed in his head whenever he wasn’t actively thinking about something else and also when he was.)

 

The only weird thing since Louis came back, which was so minor that Harry mostly thought he was just imagining was that Louis and Zayn were being clingier and more affectionate than ever, which would make total sense except they were including _Harry_ in it. He’d sit on the couch with Louis and he’d make sure to leave room for Zayn between them but Zayn would throw himself onto the couch on Harry’s other side and poke and nudge at him until he moved to the spot in between them. Then they’d cuddle up onto him like it was nothing and Zayn would fall asleep on him and Louis would play with his hair and... it was nice? But Harry felt guilty about how much he enjoyed getting the boyfriend treatment because he _wasn’t_ like that with either of them. Anyway how could they ever think of him like that when they had each other?

 

If the sudden closeness and cuddling every time they spent any time together wasn’t weird enough, they had taken to leaving Louis’ bedroom door open when they had sex, letting their noises echo throughout the flat. Harry didn’t know if it was a _thing_ for them, like they get off on people hearing them or something, but it had to be something because they did it _all the time_ now so Harry doubted they just kept forgetting. It’s one thing at night when Harry can put his headphones in and fall asleep like that but one day during the week after Louis had come home Harry had the day off. He had showered as soon as he got up and so he hadn’t noticed the noises starting and fled somewhere safe to leave them to it. He thought about waiting in the bathroom until they finished but he’d put the kettle on before his quick shower and it would boil dry if he left it.

 

Steeling himself for a potentially huge embarrassment should Louis and Zayn notice him, Harry hung his towel back on the hook, threw his dirty clothes in the basket in the bathroom, and set off down the hall.

 

As much as Harry tried to hurry down the hall and keep his head down and act like he hadn’t seen or heard anything fate seemed to have other plans and he was destined to make a total idiot of himself and stew in his sexual frustration for all eternity. A particularly broken moan startled him as he was passing the open door and he froze up. He stared into Louis’ room just long enough to see literally everything, standing there gaping like a moron even as a mantra of _lookawaylookawaylookaway_ looped through his head. Zayn was slumped face-down on the bed, clutching at the sheets with his knees splayed wide as Louis enthusiastically ate him out. He pulled back a moment and kept Zayn occupied with his fingers based on how Zayn’s sound of protest changed into one of pleasure.

 

Louis tutted softly and reached his free hand down to yank Zayn’s head up by the hair from where he’d buried it in a pillow to stifle his sounds. Zayn’s eyes were screwed shut and without the pillow to muffle his voice Zayn was letting out all sorts of sweet cries and moans as Louis fingered him. Harry saw Louis’ smirk before he stooped down and bit a mark into Zayn’s arsecheek. Zayn pulled at the sheets while Louis worked him over and Louis only let up to tease him.

 

“Can’t keep the sounds in, can you babe?” he said with a chuckle and when Zayn moaned out a shaky yes Louis ducked down and went back to work with his tongue alongside his fingers.

 

They kept at that for a few seconds and Harry was just about to finally tear his eyes away and finish fleeing to the kitchen when Zayn looked up and opened his eyes. He was dazed and unfocused for a moment but once he realized Harry was there he let out his loudest moan yet.

 

“Oh, g-god –“ Zayn whined, pushing back against Louis’ fingers and mouth and going tense. He choked out a couple more sounds and then his entire body sagged and Harry gasped.

 

“Did you just...?” Louis asked, voice ragged as he pulled back just enough to speak.

 

“Yeah,” Zayn replied, nodding slowly and shuddering. He kept his eyes locked on Harry who finally got his legs back and crept off down the hall.

 

Harry felt robotic as he made his way to the kitchen and turned off the kettle. He didn’t really want tea, but he needed something to _do_ , something to give himself a purpose and to occupy him for a bit. But the kettle was boiled and Harry needed something to do or his idle mind would fill with images of Zayn’s face as he climaxed and thoughts of Louis’ wicked tongue and all the things he could do with it. Harry immediately forgot the kettle and went about getting all the things he needed to make shortbread cookies.

 

The cookies were a good distraction but unfortunately they weren’t so complicated that he needed to focus entirely on them so he could hear the sound of Louis and Zayn fucking through the wall above the counter that separated Louis’ room from the kitchen. One of them let out a particularly loud noise and Harry slammed the oven door shut after he put the tray of cookies in.

 

At a loss for anything else to do to distract himself, Harry went to the fridge to get the eggs and to the cupboard to get the sugar and the other things he needed to make a soufflé. Surely the most complicated recipe he had in his repertoire would take enough of his attention and focus that he wouldn’t be thinking about kissing Zayn and swallowing all the pretty sounds that poured through the wall as Louis fucked him senseless, right?

 

The soufflé served its purpose and Harry completely forgot about Zayn and Louis until they wandered out into the kitchen, clothes hastily pulled on and hair mussed and reeking of sex. As if Harry didn’t already know what they’d been up to, they were acting fucked-out and loved-up, hanging off of each other and giddy. Upon seeing Harry in the kitchen, Zayn at least had the decency to look a little bit embarrassed, but Louis was blatantly shameless. He clapped Harry on the shoulder as he walked past on the way to the fridge.

 

“Sorry about that, Harold. Sometimes Zayn just needs a tongue in his arse,” Harry struggled not to sputter as Louis leaned closer, lips nearly brushing the shell of his ear as he whispered. “I mean, look at him. If you woke up with _that_ all horny and eager in bed with you, you’d give him anything he wanted, right?”

 

Harry fought to suppress his shiver as Louis moved past him and lit up at the sight of the tray of shortbread cookies Harry had sitting on the top of the stove.

 

“After-sex cookies? Fucking _nice_ ,” he said, swiping a cookie off the tray and effectively breaking the tension.

 

“Careful, they’re hot,” Harry said, voice hollow as he watched Louis hiss and draw his hand back. He sucked on his tender thumb and smirked. Harry couldn’t help staring at Louis’ fingers and thinking about how they’d been _inside Zayn_ not too long ago.

 

“Perfectly suited for us then babe,” Louis said, nudging Zayn with his elbow and winking at him. Zayn smiled at him and kissed his cheek before he went to the fridge to get out a beer. He kept his eyes locked on Harry the entire time and Harry figured that, given the circumstances, he shouldn’t be blamed for how pathetically his soufflé collapsed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is, the last chapter aside from the super smutty epilogue :) hope you've liked it so far!

After the day Harry had seen Louis rimming Zayn’s brains out it was like the floodgates were open. What little discretion Louis and Zayn had possessed before had disappeared and every corner Harry turned he found them fucking in the common spaces of their flat. It was like they wanted Harry to see them doing it and it slowly driving Harry mad.

 

Harry was contemplating going back to part-time living at Niall’s or Liam’s and thinking about the butter tarts he would make to give to them when the front door of the flat opened and he nearly choked on his tea. Louis and Zayn were utterly tangled in each other, connected at the mouth with the occasional flash of tongue and teeth. Louis’ hands were in Zayn’s hair and Zayn had both of his firmly gripping Louis’ arse and Harry needed to get out of the room before clothes started coming off.

 

Before Harry could get to his feet Louis and Zayn were moving and Harry hoped they were going to Louis’ room but then they veered towards the couch. Harry didn’t have time to get out of the way before the two men were rolling over the back of the couch and landing on top of him.

 

They didn’t miss a beat and clearly didn’t care that they were making out on top of Harry. Harry pushed at Zayn, who had ended up on top of him but no amount of shoving and prodding and trying to call their names was getting Louis or Zayn’s attention. Louis only squirmed until Zayn’s legs parted and he was able to settle between them. Harry huffed out a breath and sagged into the couch in defeat. Once they’d had a good snog, maybe they’d realize he was still trapped underneath them. Harry turned his head and watched the nearly-over movie that he’d been half-assed watching which he drank his tea. Ah, right, he’d had tea! He looked down at the coffee table and saw that he’d had the sense to set his cup down before Louis and Zayn had knocked it out of his hand. He strained to reach it and then sipped at it awkwardly laying down while he waited for Louis and Zayn to finish making out.

 

But then Harry could feel Zayn moving on top of him and Zayn gave a low groan that Harry both heard and felt. Louis pushed Zayn’s legs open wider (which pushed Harry’s legs open too) and started moving between them. Harry felt Zayn’s hips twitching and... they were grinding against each other. They were dry-humping. On top of him.

 

"Harry," Louis sighed. "Can you do us a favour and pull Zayn’s hour a little for me? My hands are a bit busy and he makes rather nice noises when you give his hair a yank."

 

Zayn nodded and moaned at the very thought. Harry’s struggles renewed tenfold and he was finally able to squirm out from under the couple and onto the floor. He ran into the coffee table as he went but he was too busy scrambling to his feet to get out or to go to his room or _something_.

 

He stalked around the couch and got halfway down the hall before Louis called his name. He paused with his hand on the doorknob to his room and turned his head to look at where Louis was sitting up on the couch, looking over at where Harry stood. His delicate features were pinched in an expression of concern and that more than anything made Harry come back to the living room when Louis beckoned for him to come back.

 

Louis climbed off of Zayn’s hips and sat down in his own space on the couch. Zayn sat up and scooted to the other end of the couch, leaving a space for Harry in the middle which was both comfortably familiar and intimidating at the same time given recent events.

 

Harry sank into the space on the couch and only started a little when Louis put his arm around Harry’s shoulders and Zayn reached out to take one of his hands. Louis took his other one with his free hand and stroked his thumb over Harry’s knuckles.

 

"Did you have something to say to us, Harold?" Louis asked in a tone that reminded Harry of a concerned parent. He squeezed Harry’s hand in encouragement, which only added to the similarities.

 

"Uhm – I just, like," Harry stammered. He saw Zayn watching him out of the corner of his eye and gulped, feeling himself flush. "I – I appreciate being included," Harry began, taking in how Zayn smiled at him and then Louis in turn, like it was his idea to attach themselves to Harry’s sides whenever possible. It wouldn’t surprise Harry if it had been. "But don’t you think you’re going a bit overboard?"

 

"Absolutely not," Zayn said at the same time as Louis shook his head and Harry lightly with the arm thrown over his shoulders. "While Lou was away we both agreed that we needed to spend more time with you, together."

 

"Yeah, and I appreciate that but – uhm – I have no, uhm, aspirations? To become a sex ramp in the future," Harry finished, thinking taking the joke route would appeal to Louis, at least.

 

"We weren’t using you as a sex ramp," Louis protested. "You were also going to pull Zayn’s hair and maybe talk dirty to him. Much more important than just a sex ramp." Zayn nodded earnestly and Harry nearly facepalmed.

 

Harry searched for something else to say but he took so long that Louis started talking before he can, but he leans past him to talk to Zayn. "I told you he’d be too polite to even consider it."

 

"Wait, consider what?" Harry asked but Zayn and Louis both carried on like he hadn’t said a word.

 

"I figured we should give him some credit," Zayn said defensively.

 

"Well no offense here mate, but I know him better than you do and I _told_ you he’d never jump to this conclusion," Louis said and Harry didn’t even know what they were on about but it seemed like Louis was being a proper bitch about it. Harry as certain that in this case he would take Zayn’s side if he knew what they were arguing about, the thought of which shocked him out of silence. He’d never taken up sides against Louis in his life, not even in his head.

 

"Am I supposed to know what you’re arguing about?" Harry asked. Both men paused in their bickering to look at him. He felt a little nervous with both of their attention on him given that even since Louis had come back having all their attention on him had been overwhelming, but he soldiered on. He wasn’t going to miss a chance to solve this, especially when Louis and Zayn were clearly discussing him. "I’m completely lost," Harry told them. "What was I too polite to consider? What are you talking about?"

 

There was a moment of silence during which Zayn and Louis stared at each other. Harry huffed which kicked Zayn’s ass in gear and he started explaining in fits and starts. Louis let go of Harry’ shoulder to reach past and rub Zayn’s back as much as he could reach it, smiling and encouraging him as he spoke.

 

"Lou went to visit his mum because we had a fight," Zayn said and Harry didn’t interrupt to tell him about how he knew. "We, like, fought because Lou told me he thought he was falling for you." Harry feigned a slack-jawed wide-eyed shocked expression which apparently worked for Zayn because he went on. "I was pissed off for, like, a day, before I thought more about it and, like, realized that it was exactly what I had wanted, all along."

 

Harry was back to being confused again. He had liked having the upper hand of knowing about the fight (except for the guilt that went with it) but he was back in the dark again. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised.

 

"At the party when we met Zayn he wanted to shag us both," Louis jumped in to explain and Zayn’s sheepish flush would be cute if Harry wasn’t also embarrassed. "Together or separate, he wasn’t picky." That actually made a lot of things make a lot of sense – how intently Zayn watched the both of them before he and Louis had hooked up and how he’d been so interested in whether or not Louis and him were together that night at the club. "He was angling for a threeway, really, but hooking up with me was almost as good," Louis teased, squeezing Zayn’s shoulder with the hand he’d been using to rub his back. Zayn ducked his head to hide his grin and Harry felt better seeing them more at ease with one another.

 

Apparently Louis’ reassuring touch gave him the courage to continue because Zayn picked up explaining then. "I got a lot more, like, invested than I meant to," Zayn admitted. Harry knew the feeling. "Which, like, isn’t bad since Lou’s my boyfriend... but I also got in really fucking deep with _you_ , Harry."

 

Harry’s shock was genuine this time – he gaped at Zayn who only kept eye contact for a second before he stared at the TV and started talking again. "I thought you were an alright bloke before that – really shaggable and all, but a good bloke – but when Lou was away and I was spending all my time with you because being around you made me think of him, I started to like you more and more. I felt really bad about it and tried to, like, deny those feelings and make them go away but Lou and I talked about it and agreed that we felt the same way."

 

Zayn and Louis’ eyes met with a tender little smile but Harry was still lost. When neither of them elaborated, Harry piped up. "And what way is that, exactly?"

 

Zayn took a deep breath. "We want you to be our boyfriend."

 

"Your... boyfriend," Harry said, feeling immensely stupid given he was repeating exactly what Zayn had said, but slower. "Pretty sure that’s one thing you’ve already got."

 

"Well we both want another one," Zayn said. "You, specifically."

 

"You don’t have to if you don’t want to," Louis rushed to assure him, and Harry realized that he had probably misunderstood Harry’s reaction. "We can go back to the way things were, but Zed and I were both pretty convinced that you liked us back. But if we’re wrong just tell us and we can pretend we never had this conversation and we can go back to the way things were before."

 

‘The way things were before’ had been awkward and tense and Harry had hated every second of it. Anyway, wasn’t this exactly what Harry had wanted, without the guilt? He doubted he would get another chance like this it took him next to no time to think about it before Harry made his decision.

 

"If we were boyfriends, would we go on dates and stuff?" Harry asked nonchalantly.

 

"And stuff," Louis replied, nodding and waggling his eyebrows. Zayn chuckled from Harry’s other side.

 

"How about this weekend" Harry asked. "Saturday night, maybe? A date and maybe even some stuff, if there’s time?"

 

Louis’ arm around his shoulders got tighter. "You mean you’re...?"

 

"Yeah," Harry replied, finally allowing himself a laugh as Louis pulled him into a crushing hug and Zayn joined in, plastering himself against Harry’s back and wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist. They laughed and hugged jovially and Louis smacked kisses to Harry’s cheeks while he repeated ‘yes’ again and again and it was really a scene out of a romantic comedy film.

 

That is, until Zayn reached past Harry to pinch Louis’ nipple and tug on it, earning a squawk from Louis and a giggle from Harry.

 

"I told you we should have just talked to Harry about it," Zayn grumbled. "You know how much time and confusion we could have saved if we’d just _talked_ about what was going on?!"

 

"It would have been weird!" Louis protested, swatting at Zayn’s hand as it went for his nipple again. Harry was thrilled to be trapped between them (his _boyfriends_ ) being jostled as they built up to what could be a hilarious wrestling match. "Anyways, seducing Harry was fun!" Louis declared as he successfully defended his nipples, mostly using Harry’s body. "Didn’t you have fun getting seduced, Haz?"

 

"Not particularly," Harry replied, to a gasp of betrayal from Louis (his _boyfriend_!). "To be honest your method of doing literally anything other than talking to me has been a bit shit so far. So, no offense but that’ll be enough from you."

 

Louis only looked scandalized for another moment before he took his assault to Harry’s nipples instead. A second later Zayn was mercilessly tugging at Louis’ tits again and Harry cackled as he teamed up with Zayn. Together they poked and pinched and tickled Louis into submission. Harry leaned over Louis which had him pinned to the couch and he grinned as he took in Louis’ flushed face and messy hair. He reached down and wiped his thumb through the tear trail of Louis’ cheek, heedless of the death glare Louis gave him.

 

"I thought having two boyfriends would mean more threeways and less assault where both my boyfriends gang up on me," Louis said sulkily.

 

Harry cooed in sympathy at him and gave him a sorry little kiss on the cheek while Zayn tutted. "Whiny," he commented, and Louis had just enough freedom in his legs to knee Zayn in the bum.

 

Eventually they let up on ribbing Louis and the three of them sat up properly on the couch. Louis still pouted and grumbled until he let Zayn press a tender kiss to his mouth. Louis’ hands came up to cup Zayn’s face and everything seemed to be forgiven. Harry was happy for them but he couldn’t help but feel a tad unkissed.

 

Louis whispered something to Zayn, so quiet that even this close Harry didn’t hear it. Then they parted and Zayn turned to Harry and bit his lower lip, keeping his eyes trained on Harry’s mouth.

 

"Can I kiss you?" Zayn asked, almost getting cut off when Harry breathed ‘yes’ and met Zayn halfway. Harry could feel Zayn’s smile against his mouth and he leaned into Harry more firmly after a moment. Kissing Zayn wasn’t unlike how Harry had imagined kissing Louis would be like, perfect but rough around the edges where Harry could feel the rasp of Zayn’s stubble against his own smooth skin. One of Zayn’s hands came up to cup the back of Harry’s neck, slipping in under the fall of his hair, and Harry sighed, letting Zayn lick into his mouth.

 

Harry dimly felt Louis’ hands trace up his spine through his top, not pushing or prodding or demanding Harry’s attention, just touching Harry so intimately because he _could_. He brushed aside Harry’s hair so it fell down one side of his neck, the strands tickling Harry’s collarbone. Harry’s heard more than felt Louis kiss Zayn’s fingertips and knuckles of the hand that rested on Harry’s nape before his lips pressed in just behind Harry’s ear and made him shiver.

 

After giving Zayn’s lip a swipe with his tongue in parting, Harry leaned back and let Louis guide him in for another kiss. Where Zayn’s kiss was curious and sweet Louis’ was all passion and heat, open and wet from the off. Harry turned his torso to gain better access to Louis, who wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck. They kissed until they were breathless, grinning into each other’s mouth. Louis leaned their temples together as they caught their collective breath.

 

"Been waiting to do that for ages," Louis said, panting and giddy and just a touch reverent and Harry headbutted him gently and gave him a look while Zayn laughed.

 

"Don’t even talk to me about waiting forever," Harry grumbled and Louis kissed his pouting lips until they eased into a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you on Saturday for some smut!!


	7. the one where they do it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is it! last chapter, which details zourry's first offical date. hope you like it and i hope you've enjoyed the fic since i put a lot of work into it :)

Harry blinked rapidly against the sunlight as he stepped out of the theatre lobby and into the parking lot. He rubbed at his eyes with his knuckles until Zayn took his hand and held it which still made Harry smile despite how he’d spent every free second of the past four days being affectionate with his boys.

“So I’ve been thinking,” Louis started from Zayn’s other side as he slipped a hand into the back pocket of Zayn’s jeans.

“Dangerous, that,” Zayn commented, yelping at the arse goose he received in retaliation.

“So it’s like this,” Louis began and despite how much shit they gave him Harry and Zayn were listening as they approached his car. “Harry, you’re Rey because you could do your hair like hers and she seems like someone who would meditate and do yoga like you do,” Louis explained. (Louis had informed him two days ago that he had only watched Harry doing yoga once and had had to either hide in his room or conveniently be busy when he did it because he got so turned of watching Harry contort his body into different positions. He had also placed a ban on the casual wearing of Harry’s yoga pants around the flat. Harry privately planned to break that rule on a day when he had an afternoon free to get fucked over the coffee table in the living room.) “Zayn, you’re Finn because you think you’re really cool and smooth but you’re actually a big nerd.”

Zayn rolled his eyes but let Louis tug him in for a kiss on the cheek before all three of them parted to get into the car.

“So that make you Poe the sexy pilot,” Harry observed as he buckled the passenger seat seatbelt over his hips.

“Naturally,” Louis said, backing out of their parking spot and heading to the sushi restaurant. Because it was Harry’s first date with them they had agreed to go wherever Harry wanted to go for dinner, and he had wanted sushi. (Zayn and Louis liked sushi well enough so there were no complaints but Harry casually didn’t mention how he’d gotten sushi with Niall and Liam just two days ago. He’d explained everything that had happened between him and Louis and Zayn and with a sheepish grin he’d told them that he was dating Louis and Zayn too. They had ribbed him and teased him but it had been fond and proud and they had been happy for him. Niall mourned the loss of their cuddly sleepovers and Liam mourned the loss of Harry’s constant baking in his apartment but they were happy for him all the same.)

They got some looks from other people at the sushi place as they placed their first order and then started horsing around in their booth. Louis took Harry’s silky headscarf off him and tried to put it on Zayn, who put up a good fight and swore a lot in an effort to protect his perfectly-crafted quiff. Louis cut it out and gave Harry his scarf back when a waitress came to bring them their drinks. He fluttered his eyelashes up at the waitress before she bustled off after delivering their tea. They burst out laughing immediately when she left.

“Lou, I was thinking about what you said after Star Wars,” Harry said, distracting Louis and Zayn from starting further shit. “I don’t think Zayn would be Finn. I think he would be Rey.”

Louis leaned his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. “I’m listening.”

“Well I think Rey seems really smart,” Harry explained. “Like clever and quick and just really bright, which I’m not really, but Zayn is.” Zayn pursed his lips like he was going to argue but Louis was nodding and agreeing so he just smiled sheepishly and sipped his tea.

“So you would be Finn or I would?” Louis asked, fiddling with his chopsticks.

“I would,” Harry replied.

“So I’m still the handsome pilot,” Louis said, looking immensely pleased with himself. “And you’d be the cutest stormtrooper in the fleet.”

Harry grinned but didn’t comment again as their waitress arrived with their first wave of food. She seemed immensely relieved to see that Louis was back on his best behaviour. As soon as she set their trays down and left though, Louis was back at it, turning to Harry.

“So, I’d shag Ryan Reynolds in a heartbeat. Would you, young Harold?” Louis asked, popping a fried cheese wonton into his mouth and raising his eyebrows at Harry.

Harry coughed. “Sucks that there’s no three person dream team in Deadpool for us to assign ourselves to.”

“There is though,” Zayn said. “Deadpool, Colossus, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead.”

“But which of us is the teenage girl,” Louis mused. “Plus we could never agree on who would be Deadpool.”

“I think I’d be Deadpool,” Zayn said, utterly sure but entirely nonchalant. “Like I can do a triple backflip in the air, just like him.”

“Zayn, you can’t do triple backflips in the air,” Louis said.

“Yeah, but I’m – I’m learning,” Zayn insisted. “I’ve got the double down, I just need to get the triple.”

“You’re prettier than Deadpool,” Harry commented, delighting in how Zayn smiled and hid it behind a mouthful of tuna and rice. Calling Zayn prettier than Ryan Reynolds; major boyfriend points. Noted.

“Plus you’d never say no to a cock up your arse,” Louis added. Someone at the next table gasped but Louis just picked at their plate of sesame chicken and watched Zayn flush and stare down at his soup.

“Well you’re not wrong,” he said with a shrug and Harry nearly choked on a spicy salmon roll.

By the time they’d ordered another round of food, had dessert, and settled the bill, Harry was fairly certain they were close to getting kicked out. The just-sucked-on-a-lemon faces of the people at the neighbouring booths made Harry think that the staff couldn’t get them cashed out and out the door fast enough. Harry wondered what sort of complaints their neighbours had given the wait staff and when he expressed that question to his boys it became the prime topic of conversation for the drive back to Louis and Harry’s flat.

“’Yes, hello, I’m unhappy because the three boys in the booth next to us are too fit and it’s offending me,” Louis said, pulling a face and a tight upper-class-white-mum voice to go with it. “’The tall pretty one has nicer hair than I’ve ever had and how can Hottie McModelface there have eyelashes like that without wearing mascara? I demand that you arrest them both for being too perfect.’”

Harry giggled all through Louis’ little speech and Zayn snorted out a laugh when Louis mentioned him. Louis switched to a deep voice then, putting on a gruff American accent. “’I’m a straight man who likes women but the beautiful men at the table next to me are making me want to suck cock and I am unsettled by this so make them leave.’”

Even Zayn barked out a laugh at that. Harry was completely unprepared for Zayn’s next comment. “You don’t think one of them went like ‘the little one with the cheekbones jacked off a plant for like five minutes straight while staring intently at the prince across from him and it was a lot more gay than I had planned for my family’s Sunday lunch’?”

“It’s not even Sunday,” Louis sputtered out around a laugh, turning off the street and scanning his card to get into the parking garage of their building. They continued to chat as Louis parked the car, making their comments about the two movies and their dinner. They were out of breath by the time they’d walked up the stairs to Louis’ and Harry’s flat but that didn’t stop Zayn and Harry from ganging up on Louis at the door of the flat, tickling him and playing with his nipples and otherwise distracting him from unlocking the door.

“Unhand me, you fucking animals,” Louis grumbled, throwing an elbow or two in an effort to get into the flat and escape his tormentors. He finally got the door unlocked, despite Zayn and Harry’s harassment, and scrambled into the flat.

They settled down to take off their coats like civilized adults and Harry thought they’d sit in front of the TV and hang out for a bit. Those thoughts vanished when Louis and Zayn each took one of his hands. Louis nodded back towards the hallway and Harry couldn’t help his blush.

(Harry hadn’t properly had sex with Zayn and Louis yet, though they had invited him to. He’d made a nervous joke about it the first time, about not putting out until after the boys took him out, how he wasn’t that kind of girl. Louis had spun it into a game. Harry was allowed to watch Louis and Zayn but he didn’t get any himself and he wasn’t allowed to get himself off either. So after four nights of only being allowed to watch Louis and Zayn fuck each other senseless, Harry was stewing in a broth of desperate sexual frustration unlike anything he’d ever experienced in all of his time wanting to shag Louis and, more recently, Zayn.)

“Want to?” Zayn asked softly, squeezing Harry’s hand and reaching his other hand up to cup Harry’s jaw. His gaze kept darting between Harry’s eyes and his mouth. “We’ve got some stuff planned for you.”

“You did say there could be some stuff, if we had time,” Louis reminded him. He reached his free hand up to play with Harry’s curls, letting the soft strands twist around his fingers. “What else are early show times for?”

“Sushi?” Harry offered and Louis chuckled as he moved in to kiss Harry’s neck.

“We’ve got a lot more than that in mind for you, babe,” Zayn told Harry, his mouth falling to the other side of Harry’s neck. Harry squeezed at their hands, feeling hot all over as they worked him over together.

“Yes,” Harry gasped as Zayn and Louis sank their teeth in one after the other, making Harry tremble. “B-bedroom, please.”

“That’s a good lad,” Louis said, smacking Harry’s ass and gleefully pulling his boys down the hall and into Harry’s bedroom. He let go of Harry’s hand to start fumbling with the buttons of Harry’s floral top, pushing it back off his shoulders as he got on his toes to kiss Harry.

(Harry had originally put on a dress shirt and a bowtie but Louis had taken one look at him and rolled his eyes, saying they were just going to dinner and a movie, not the fucking ballet. Then he’d stripped the tie and shirt off Harry and helped him pick something more casual. Zayn had been too busy styling his hair to come to Harry’s aid, tragically.)

Zayn pressed himself to Harry’s back, laying kisses in a leisurely path across his shoulder blade up to the nape of his neck. His fingers skimmed over Harry’s hips, dipping just under the waist of his snug jeans.

Harry was caught between them, utterly overwhelmed by his boyfriends, and he nearly collapsed back into Zayn’s arms when Louis sank gracefully to his knees. Harry didn’t know what to do with his hands then, squeezing his fingers into fists at his sides, his nails digging in to his palms. Louis started pressing kisses just under his navel down his pelvis, lips following the line of one of Harry’s laurels up to his hip.

Zayn leaned up to nip at Harry’s ear while his hands slipped down to undo Harry’s belt and trousers. Louis was practically letting Zayn do it, retracing the same route his lips had just traveled with his tongue. Zayn got Harry’s trousers undone and Harry nearly sobbed with relief as his cock tented out the much stretchier material of his pants. The relief was gone when Louis moved down to mouth at the head of Harry’s erection through his pants, wetting the fabric with his tongue. Louis took over when the fabric bunched around Harry’s knees and Harry sagged back against Zayn with a groan when Zayn’s long fingers curled around his prick and gave him a tug.

“Lou’s wanted to blow you for weeks now,” Zayn told Harry, breath humid where it caught in his hair and against his ear. Louis finished stripping off Harry’s clothes, peeling off his socks and helping him step out of his jeans and underwear. Harry was naked then save for his headscarf and he’d been naked around Louis before but having those intent blue eyes looking up at him from under his lashes this time had him flushing down to his swallows. “He’s really good with his mouth,” Zayn breathed, making his next comment softly enough that Louis wouldn’t hear it over Harry’s laboured breathing. “But you, like, saw that the other week, didn’t you?”

Harry nodded and choked out a moan when Louis finally sucked Harry’s cock into his mouth. Louis’ mouth was wet and hot and perfect and better than Harry’s most vivid fantasies. His hands finally found something to do, one clutching at Zayn’s sleeve and the other cupping Louis’ cheek. At the contact Louis fluttered his eyelashes cheekily up at Harry and sucked harder. One of his hands came up and took Harry’s hand, shifting it slightly so his thumb pressed into the hollow of Louis’ cheek. Harry moaned again when he felt his own cock pressing at the inside of Louis’ cheek.

“He’s good, right?” Zayn practically purred. “He did this to me after our first date. Then he fucked me so hard I couldn’t walk the next day.”

Louis pulled off long enough to pipe in, “You were limping for the next week.” (It was true. Harry remembered. Worst week ever.)

“Yes, you’re very, like, impressive. Get that pretty mouth back to work,” Zayn said, using his free hand to reach over and push Louis’ head back down. The other hand held Harry’s dick steady until Louis stopped making muffled protesting noises and started bobbing his head eagerly on his own.

“Do you want him to fuck you?” Zayn asked and Harry had almost been able to handle Louis sucking him down like he could come liquid gold but then Zayn just had to start talking again and Harry’s legs were shaking. Zayn bit at Harry’s earlobe and tugged and Harry nodded shakily. Of course he wanted Louis to fuck him. It was all he’d wanted for years.

“Do you want me to fuck you?” Zayn asked and Harry was nodding immediately and maybe that was confusing but it was the truth. He may not remember his own name while his dick was down Louis fucking Tomlinson’s throat but he knew what he wanted and that was everything these boys could give him.

“Stop, Lou – oh, fuck, stop,” Harry gasped, even though a big part of him was revolting against the rest of him because he was so close. Louis pulled back and off at a leisurely pace and blinked up at Harry. Harry had to look away because Louis was fucking kitten licking at the head of Harry’s dick, all while looking up at Harry through his lashes. It was really counterproductive to keeping Harry from coming before he could even get a dick in him. Zayn nuzzled at Harry’s ear and made an inquisitive humming sound and as soon as Harry could think enough to put together a sentence he explained. “Don’t wanna come yet,” he panted. “Not when no-one’s fucking me.”

Louis was on his feet in a second and licking into Harry’s mouth the next. “Oh love,” he murmured into Harry’s mouth, both hands coming up to spread over his pelvis, curling ever so slightly around his hips. His own hands went down to grip at Louis’ arse, which he’d been doing every chance he’d had since he’d been allowed to. If he wasn’t so intent on getting fucked by Louis as soon as possible he would spend hours playing with Louis’ arse. “Zayn and me are gonna wreck you,” Louis informed him, pulling back to look Harry in the eye. “That alright with you?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “Please.”

Zayn’s hand moved up to pull Harry’s headscarf off and tossed it aside. He got a handful of Harry’s curls and tugged, making Harry moan. He leaned past Harry’s shoulder to kiss him, quickly and not particularly deeply due to the awkward angle. “Take Lou’s clothes off,” he told Harry.

Harry did as he was told, his hands sliding up from Louis’ bum and rucking up the back of his jumper. (It had a wide collar that showed off his collarbones and the ink embedded in his skin there. Harry had been eyeing the exposed skin there since Louis had emerged from his shower dressed and styled and ready to go on their date. Even though Harry had seen it all before, he was still immensely satisfied to strip Louis down himself. He’d been waiting a very long time to do it.) He pulled the top over Louis’ head and tossed it aside, drinking in the tanned skin laid out before him.

Louis smirked at Harry who hooked his fingers in Louis’ beltloop and tugged him closer to the bed. Zayn stepped out of the way and let Harry tow Louis in closer. Harry sank down to sit on the edge of the bed. Harry stopped leading Louis in when the older man was standing between his spread knees, at the perfect spot for Harry to kiss at his stomach and undo his trousers.

Harry looked up when Louis’ hand came up to cup his cheek, meeting his eyes which were soft and fond even as he bit his lip and flushed with arousal. “Have you ever...?”

“Yes,” Harry replied, pausing to mouth at the dark hair that trailed down Louis’ pelvis from his navel. “Loads of times.”

“You like it?” Zayn asked and suddenly he’s much closer than Harry had thought he was. He’d sat down on the end of the bed beside Harry, tracing one of his hands up Harry’s side, pressing to feel each rib. Harry shivered and nodded.

“Love sucking cock,” he mumbled, tugging down Louis’ trousers and nuzzling his nose against the length of his erection through his boxer briefs. Louis hummed low in pleasure and tangled the fingers of one hand in Harry’s hair, rubbing his scalp. Harry pulled Louis’ boxers down and took a moment to inspect Louis’ cock, feeling the weight of it and the heat, letting his eyes slip shut to enjoy the feeling of Louis’ fingers against his scalp and his dick in his hand. He kept his eyes closed as he stooped down and tasted Louis for the first time, closing his mouth around the head of his cock. He took his time breathing Louis in; his scent, so warm and strong this close to his groin, and his taste which Harry had long spent imagining but could never fully decide on.

Harry started when he felt Zayn move again, this time crawling in behind Harry and bracketing Harry’s hips with his thighs. He was hot like this; the entire length of his legs pressed to Harry’s and his chest to Harry’s back. Harry was irritated for a moment that Zayn was still fully clothed, denim rough against Harry’s bare legs and his shirt soft against Harry’s back, but he’d worry about that later, when he wasn’t sucking his long-time-crush-now-boyfriend’s cock.

Zayn’s arms came around Harry and Harry settled into them with a sigh, muffled by his full mouth as he went down further on Louis. Before long Harry had zoned out of everything else, focused so entirely on the quiet, raspy moans Louis let out and the gentle rocking of his hips that Louis started when Zayn started touching Harry again. His long fingers traced up Harry’s stomach, nails scratching at the hair trailing down from his navel. Louis’ fingers dug into Harry’s scalp at the same time as Zayn started playing with his nipples and Harry whimpered and arched his back. The warring sensations were overwhelming and Harry reveled in them, especially when his boys got a bit rougher with him. Zayn pinched with his nails and tugged harder than he would have if they were playing . A flare of pain shot up Harry’s spine when Louis yanked more sharply at his hair and Harry strove for the waves of panic that he felt when he choked a little on Louis’ cock; how his lungs struggled and his throat spasmed.

Too soon Louis was breathing his name and telling him to stop and pulling his hair, but this time he was pulling Harry off his cock. Harry fought Louis’ hold, tried to keep pushing his mouth down on Louis’ slippery cock but then Louis stepped away from the bed and Harry and Zayn. Harry was at a loss then, squirming where he sat practically in Zayn’s lap and aching from the loss of Louis’ touch and his cock. His eyes flicked down to Louis’ erection once more before he looked up to meet Louis’ eyes. He was startled to find Louis’ expression tight and his eyes stormy.

“I told you to stop,” Louis said, tone colder than Harry had ever heard it before. He immediately felt flooded with guilt, bowing his head and dropping his hands to clutch at his own knees. Even Zayn’s touch on him receded and Harry felt cold all over.

“I’m sorry,” was all Harry could think to say, despite how he wracked his brain. He couldn’t explain why he needed to apologize, especially given how he’d barely done anything wrong. What was even wrong about it? “Lou, I’m sorry, please, don’t be mad at me, I-“

Louis’ hand cupped Harry’s cheek and Harry leaned into it. He met Louis’ gaze and found the tension gone and replaced with softness and fondness, and he found that he’d seen that expression before and that he loved having it focused on him.

“I’m not mad at you, love,” Louis said softly, and Harry melted back against Zayn whose arms wrapped tighter around him. Zayn’s stubble was rough against Harry’s cheek as he kissed it and he felt one of Louis’ fingers shift to stroke Zayn’s lip while he was close.

“Harry, look at me,” Louis said and Harry hadn’t realized he’d closed his eyes until he opened them. He let Louis tilt his head up so their eyes met and Harry held his gaze with nothing short of reverence. He felt warm all over again at the smile he received at that.

“Good lad,” Zayn breathed, moving down to kiss Harry’s neck. Harry wasn’t sure if the resulting shiver he felt was because of Zayn’s attention or his words.

“You’ll be good for me now?” Louis asked Harry, brushing his thumb over Harry’s cheekbone. Harry nodded with barely a thought. “You’ll do as I say?”

Harry nodded again, eager for Louis’ approval for reasons he couldn’t explain but it wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling. He’d always wanted to make Louis happy.

“It’s kind of a thing for him,” Zayn told him softly, his lips brushing Harry’s ear. “Like, telling people what to do during sex. Telling us what to do.”

“We’ll talk about this later. In-depth,” Louis promised. “Do you still want to do this now?”

“Absolutely,” Harry replied, almost surprising himself with his certainty. “I want this. Even the kinky bit.” Especially the kinky bit, he thought. They’d get to that later. Now he just needed a cock in him. “Can one of you fuck me now? Please?”

“No,” Louis said and Harry gaped at him. “While you’re very polite and eager and it’s delicious, I need a second or I’ll come as soon as I get in you.” Louis told him and Harry squirmed at the thought. “Can’t blame a bloke for wanting to make it last, yeah?”

“You want him to take it last,” Zayn told him, practically purring. “It’s so good when he makes it last.” Zayn’s hand was wandering again, tracing up his chest, over his swallows and up the side of his neck. Zayn’s thumb brushed over his Adam’s apple, which trembled when he swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Please,” Harry gasped, clutching his hands into fists where they rested on his thighs. Zayn squeezed his throat ever so slightly, making him tense and swallow hard against the pressure. He watched as Louis finally moved, striding over to Harry’s desk to lift up the chair that was pushed in under it and bringing it back to the foot of the bed. Harry couldn’t help but admire the generous roundness of Louis’ arse as he walked, the thickness of his thighs, and the bulge of his biceps as he carried the weight of the chair. He was so gorgeous and after years of wanting, Harry could finally call Louis his.

“If you’re a good boy and do as you’re told then I’ll fuck you,” Louis told him, and Harry was elated but a moment later he blinked in confusion as Louis took a seat in the chair, primly crossing his legs at the ankles and idly stroking his own cock. “Zayn’ll get you ready and I’ll watch.”

Even as Zayn moved behind him, Harry gaped at Louis. He vaguely heard Zayn rustling around in his bedside table, presumably in search of lube, but he kept his eyes on Louis. He only broke contact with Louis when Zayn spoke to him.

“Awful big dildo you’ve got in that second drawer there,” he commented. “Won’t need much opening up if you practice with that bad boy on the regular.”

Harry didn’t know he could flush more but somehow he managed.

“I may need to see this dildo, else I may think you’re insulting me,” Louis said, but didn’t move to get up and look in the drawer. “Something to explore another day,” Louis said, effectively dismissing the topic. “Now get to it. Haz, you can straddle Zayn’s lap, facing me so I can see your face.”

Harry needed to stop assuming that he was at his limit for things like blushing because he just kept exceeding his own expectations. After a beat Harry did as he was told, shuffling around and murmuring apologies and affirmations to Zayn, all while Louis watched them quietly and played with his own cock. Harry braced his hands on his own thighs as he straddled Zayn’s thighs, which were still covered by his jeans, frustratingly. Zayn opened the lube just as Louis tsked and shook his head.

“Harry, hold onto your own ankles,” Louis told him and Harry did, biting his lip as the shift in position prevented him from hunching over and forced him to push his chest out a bit. “And keep your head back so your hair doesn’t fall in your face. I want to see all the lovely expressions you make as Zayn opens you up for me.”

Harry pushed his hair back, shivering at how it tickled him between his shoulder blades. He immediately put his hands back where Louis had told him to put them and he didn’t miss how Louis watched him do it and smirked when he did.

“Go ahead, love,” Louis said with a significant nod of his head to Zayn. He pushed his fringe back off to the side of his face and watched as Zayn stroked up the inside of Harry’s thigh with the dry backs of his fingers.

“Gonna, like, put my fingers in you now,” Zayn said and Harry couldn’t see his face but in his head Harry could see the gentle expression that he read from Zayn’s voice. “That alright, babe?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied, quick so neither of his boyfriends would have any doubts. “Please.”

Zayn kissed Harry’s shoulder blade before he stroked a pair of slick fingers over his hole. Harry leaned back on his arms and took a deep breath, though he couldn’t help but twitch a little as Zayn circled his arsehole. Louis started talking again as soon as Zayn pushed his index finger into Harry.

“Gonna have to take a look at that toy of yours later,” he commented casually as if making an observation on the weather. “For research purposes, of course. Also to see how pretty Zayn looks when he takes it.”

Behind him Zayn let out a bit-off curse and Harry whined, shifting his hips back until he was riding Zayn’s fingers. “M-more,” he panted and lifted his right hand to reach behind himself and tangle it in Zayn’s hair.

“Do I need to tie your hands?” Louis asked and Harry immediately put his hand back where Louis had told him to keep it, suitably chastised. They’d need to explore to idea of tying Harry up in more depth some time.

“More, please,” Harry repeated, voice breaking with desperation. “Please, Zayn.”

“I’m not the one you should be asking, Harry,” Zayn murmured and Harry clung to the warm and familiar way the H in Harry’s name always got lost in Zayn’s accent. A moment later he properly processed what Zayn had said and opened his eyes (which he hadn’t realized he’d closed) and blinked a couple times to focus on Louis. He was still seated in Harry’s desk chair, all naked and tanned and delicious-looking.

“Don’t know that he’s been good enough to deserve more,” Louis drawled. He almost sounded bored but his eyes were sharp and focused on Harry. Harry couldn’t help but squirm. “What do you think, Zed?”

The fingers of Zayn’s free hand traced down Harry’s spine, slowly and aimlessly. “I want to see you fuck him,” Zayn replied and despite the fact that Harry was literally between them and Zayn was touching him, fingers on him and in him, they were talking about him like he wasn’t even there.

(They had done it before, Louis had admitted. The first night after they were together as boyfriends they’d curled up together in Louis’ bed. The sheets had smelled like Louis and Zayn and Harry immediately knew he wanted them to smell like him too. They cuddled and kissed and touched without much intent, just because they could.

“Harry,” Louis had begun, never content when he wasn’t driving Harry mad with want. “Did you know we used to talk about you while we shagged?”

Zayn had nodded. “You were part of our dirty talk, like,” he paused, as if the embarrassment of telling Harry this had finally caught up with him. That didn’t stop Zayn from going on though. “Like, I’d tell Lou ‘fuck me like you’d fuck Harry’ and I wouldn’t be able to form a sentence for like an hour afterwards.” Harry had had difficulty forming sentences after that conversation, and Zayn and Louis were smirking smug little fuckers all the while.)

“I guess if that’s what you want, you can have it,” Louis replied. “Even if Harry doesn’t deserve it.”

The outrage Harry should have felt at being ignored and disrespected wasn’t present. Instead Harry felt warm to his very core, supported and loved and cared for. Zayn’s hand moved along Harry’s side and closed around one of his hips while the other one moved, drawing out of Harry before it pressed back in with two fingers. Harry shuddered and slumped his shoulders, then straightened back up immediately when he remembered how Louis had told him to keep his back straight and his head back. He squeezed at his ankles and shook out his hair, his nerves lighting up at the brush of the strands against his back.

“Give him another,” Louis said. “He’s earning it now. Being a good boy.”

Zayn worked another slick finger into Harry at Louis’ command. Harry couldn’t help how he wriggled and whined in Zayn’s lap and he hoped that Louis liked what he saw.

“How does he feel, babe?” Louis asked a while later, the first one to put together a real sentence in amongst Harry’s moans and gasps and Zayn’s hums.

“He’s tight,” Zayn replied. “You’re gonna love it. Must be all the yoga.”

Louis chuckled. “Don’t get me started on the yoga.” The chair creaked as Louis shifted his weight on it. His hand drifted down to pull at his cock and the memory of the weight of it in his mouth almost had Harry drooling. He swallowed thickly. Louis addressed Zayn again. “Do you want to fuck him?”

“Yeah,” Zayn said. “But you should, like. Go first or whatever. He’s been wanting it forever and you want it too and I can wait my turn.” Harry could hear the grin in his voice when he spoke next and he could imagine it, his eyebrows raised and his tongue pushed against the back of his teeth. “I’ve been getting it from you loads, anyway. Think he deserves his turn, yeah?”

“Stop, then.” Louis said and Zayn teased Harry’s prostate for only a moment longer before he withdrew his fingers. He wiped his fingers on the edge of his shirt before he tugged it off over his head and finally, finally, Harry had Zayn’s bare chest against his back. It was hard to keep his hands clutched around his own ankles when he had more of Zayn’s skin to touch, but he wanted Louis’ dick in him so he held the position Louis told him to and kept his eyes glued on Louis.

“Roll off of Zayn and get on your hands and knees on the bed next to him,” Louis told Harry. “Get that arse up and show me how badly you want me to fuck it. And Zayn, babe, get naked. Don’t know how you managed to keep your trousers on this long, honestly.”

“It’s my stealthy ninja-like skills,” Zayn explained and Harry and Louis both snorted with laughter. Harry had already rolled off of Zayn and was propped up on his hands and knees just like Louis had told him to. He wouldn’t give Louis another reason to hold off fucking him for a second more.

“Then toss me a condom, ninja turtle,” Louis teased as he got up from the chair and Zayn did, throwing it at Louis like a ninja star. It hit Louis square in the chest and bounced off, falling to the floor. Louis looked down at where it had hit him, eyebrows raised. “Wow, impressive. It’s almost like you did that on purpose.”

“Eat a dick, Lou,” Zayn mumbled as he flopped back down on the bed to undo his jeans and peel them off his legs.

“You wish,” Louis said, ripping the condom open with his teeth and spitting the plastic he’d torn off to the floor. “Also I’m tallying up all this bad behaviour and you’re going to get a hell of a spanking if you keep going at the rate you’re at.”

“Do I have a spanking tally?” Harry asked, trying not to give away how much the prospect excited him. He wiggled his hips a little, unhappy with how little attention he was getting from his boys. To his satisfaction, Louis was watching his bum move with rapt attention.

“I’ll have to start one,” Louis said. “But spanking that arse of yours seems like a waste of time when I could be fucking it.”

“One of the perks of having an older boyfriend,” Zayn whispered conspiratorially to Harry, making him giggle. “They’re, like, wise and stuff.”

“Thirty-seven,” commented Louis darkly and Zayn just shrugged.

Once Zayn and Louis dropped their banter all of their attention was back on Harry, a sensation that made Harry flush and shiver from both nerves and excitement. Harry looked over his shoulder at Louis and his eyes automatically snapped down to where he was absent-mindedly stroking his cock while he looked at Harry. He felt all fluttery when he thought about how all the hunger and adoration in that loaded gaze was for him.

“Let’s get you full of cock then,” Louis declared and Harry spread his legs a little wider and turned back around to face forward. Zayn was there, cupping his cheek and stroking his thumb across Harry’s face. Harry was no stranger to taking cock but it was still nice to have Zayn petting him and soothing him while Louis pushed in. He focused on Zayn’s touches and the soft words of encouragement he was murmuring and before he knew it Louis’ pelvis was pressed flush against Harry’s bum.

Harry let out a shaky breath and shifted his hips. Louis wasn’t even moving and he was already at the very edge of stimulating Harry’s prostate, but he was patient and gentle, tracing his hand down Harry’s back and lingering on the dimples at the bottom of his spine. After a couple more deep breaths Harry pushed back, jostling Louis’ erection inside of him.

“Please,” Harry gasped, dropping down to his elbows and clutching hard at fistfuls of the sheets. “Please fuck me, Lou.”

“Been wanting to hear that for so long,” Louis breathed and Harry had a snarky retort about how Louis had no idea but then Louis was holding Harry by the hips and absolutely giving it to him. Harry could do little more than hold onto the sheets as Louis fucked him. He would be pushed up the bed if Louis wasn’t holding him back by the hips – of course, Harry thought with a moan, he and Zayn had been fucking like rabbits for weeks now and Zayn hadn’t been concussed yet so of course Louis knew to hold onto him when they shagged. Harry only thought about Louis holding Zayn still while taking him savagely from behind for a second before he buried his face in his folded arms and cried out his passion into them.

“Haz,” Louis said, voice distressingly controlled for someone in his position and Harry tensed at the commanding tone of his voice. Louis responded by pausing to curse and grind his hips against Harry’s tight arse. When he wasn’t distracted by the hot clutch of Harry’s body, he spoke again. “S-sit up again, love. Zayn has something for you.”

Harry did as he was told, swallowing down a whimper as Louis continued to grind into him slowly but firmly, almost always right against his prostate. When Harry opened his eyes (which he didn’t remember closing) he found that Zayn had moved again, kneeling before Harry and holding his dick. Harry didn’t need Zayn’s free hand stroking his jaw and tipping his head up to know what his boyfriends wanted. He wanted it even more.

“Please,” Harry mumbled, eyes locked on Zayn’s. He let his mouth drop open and covered his bottom teeth with his tongue delicately, hoping he made for an inviting sight.

He must have because Zayn’s response was to angle his dick down to press into Harry’s mouth. As soon as the head of Zayn’s cock was past Harry’s teeth he closed his mouth around it and started sucking, which made Zayn curse and buck his hips. Harry rocked between his boyfriends’ cocks while they had a silent conversation over his head, getting himself off on Louis’ dick while Zayn’s muffled his whines.

They seemed to have come to a consensus on something because the next second Louis was squeezing Harry’s hips and fucking him hard enough that his pelvis slapped against Harry’s bum loudly. With Harry’s quiet sounds muffled, everything else sounded louder, from the quiet noises the other boys let out to the creaking of the bed at they moved on top of it.

After Louis settled into his rhythm and Harry had had a chance to get used to it, Zayn started up. He fucked Harry’s mouth with more care than Louis took when he fucked Harry’s arse, which just wouldn’t do. Every time Louis pushed into him and rocked his body forward Harry pushed down further on Zayn’s cock. The first couple of times Zayn panicked and tried to pull Harry back by the hair but Harry reveled in that too.

It took Louis noticing something was off and assessing the situation to convince Zayn that he wasn’t choking Harry to death on his cock. “Seems our sweet boy likes it a tad rough,” Louis commented, stroking his fingers down Harry’s spine and making him buck and keen eagerly as he dug his nails in. “So pull his hair and fuck his throat and we’ll talk about safewords and shit later, yeah?”

“Are you sure, Harry?” Zayn asked after a second and Harry nodded eagerly and mumbled his enthusiastic consent around Zayn’s cock. Zayn only deliberated for another beat before he tangled both hands in Harry’s curls and started fucking his throat in earnest. Louis picked it up a second later and Harry delighting in bouncing back and forth between his boyfriends.

To say everything passed in a blur after they found their perfect rhythm would be a cliché and not entirely accurate. Harry remembered everything perfectly and every glorious second was accounted for and held a special place in his memories, but it was a flurry of heat and pain and pleasure.

Zayn finished first, pulling Harry back by the hair and jerking himself off on Harry’s face, his fist a blur until his strokes grew erratic. His come gummed up in Harry’s eyelashes and down one side of his nose. He had another stripe across his cheek and over his lips before Zayn let out a breathless prayer of Harry’s name and he flopped back on the bed. He blinked slowly at Harry after that, like his massive lashes were weighing down his tired eyelids.

“Now that that’s quite finished,” Louis bit out, pulling out. Before Harry had a chance to protest Louis had him flipped over on his back and pushed his legs apart to get back between them. He was back inside Harry in an instant, swallowing the broken moan Harry let out as he was filled up again. He nipped at Harry’s lips as they kissed and bruised Harry’s hips with his fingers while he fucked him hard. Harry writhed and the come on his face got smeared on Louis’ as he kissed Harry’s lips into plump red swollen perfection.

“Please,” Harry practically sobbed, voice breaking from how rough Zayn had been on his throat. “L-Louis, please-“

“I’ve got you, babe,” Louis promised softly, bracketing Harry with his arms and smothering his messy face with kisses that would be sweet if they weren’t actively spreading Zayn’s come around. “Gonna take care of you,” Louis murmured and almost as soon as he got a hand of Harry’s cock it was over.

Harry came in spurts up his belly, with one glob of come even landing above one of his swallows. Louis quite literally fucked every drop of come out of Harry as he finished also, spurred on by Harry’s nails raking down his back. Louis arched hard and twitched his hips against Harry’s bum before he finished riding his high and slumped down on top of Harry.

Zayn weakly clapped his hands from where he’d been laying watching together and Harry flushed and hid his face in the side of Louis’ head but giggled. Louis didn’t care that Harry had gotten come in his hair just then.

“Perk number-“ Harry croaked, pausing to clear his throat before he continued with a grin. “Perk number three hundred and seven of having two boyfriends: that.”

Louis and Zayn both laughed with him at that, Zayn open and happy sprawled naked on the bed with his hair all messy in a way he never let anyone see it and Louis shaking a little with it where he’d laid his head on Harry’s chest despite the fact that Harry’s whole front was covered in jizz. After a moment of laughing together they settled down and Louis lifted his head off Harry’s chest to look into his eyes.

“I’m gonna get up and get us a flannel to wash up with,” he started. “Then I’m going to go out for a smoke and Zayn is welcome to join me if he wants.” Zayn crawled to the edge of the bed at that and started sorting through the clothes littering the floor. He skipped pants and tugged on joggers, making an absolutely delicious sight of effortless beauty and swirling ink as he looked for a top.

Louis got up on his hands and knees over Harry and grinned down at him, and Harry took in his messy face and warm flush. He happily accepted the kiss Louis pressed onto him, tasting their mixed come on his mouth. He pulled back a moment and licked a stripe up Harry’s cheek before he winked cheekily and rolled off of Harry to get up off the bed. He found clothes (mostly Harry’s with how the jeans pooled around his feet and the button-down shirt fell to the middle of his thighs and swallowed up his hands in the sleeves.

“My clothes look good on you,” Harry commented and Louis grinned sheepishly. “My jeans can’t contain that arse of yours but it’s a really good look.”

“Not really my style,” Louis said, rolling up the sleeves of Harry’s shirt and looking around for his pack of cigarettes. He found them and disappeared out the bedroom door for a moment. He came back and handed Harry a warm damp cloth, pressing another kiss to Harry’s sweaty temple before he turned and went to where Zayn was waiting in the doorway. He smacked a kiss to Zayn’s jaw and took his hand to lead him out into the hall.

Harry listened to his boys banging around by the door putting their shoes on. The door closed behind them and Harry was left in the silence of their flat. He fiddled with the flannel for another moment before he used it to wipe himself off; his face and his chest and stomach and between his legs where the lube had gone tacky on his skin. He contemplated getting up and taking a proper shower but in the end he didn’t. He just rolled over, cocooning himself in the sheets and soaking in the heat and scent of his boys and the incredibly sex they’d just had. Harry couldn’t help the giddy little shiver that overtook him and made him wiggle.

He’d nearly dozed off by the time the front door opened again and a moment later Harry was flanked on either side by chilly skin and smoky-smelling clothes. When he’d first met Louis it had bothered him, that Louis’ hair and clothes smelled like smoke and all the coats in the hall closet (including Harry’s) did too because Louis would go out for a smoke and then put his smelly jacket in with Harry’s clean ones. As he got to know Louis and fell deeper in love with him he’d grown to like the smell and associate it with Louis and even missed it when it was gone.

In this moment he was surrounded with it and he instantly felt safe and warm. He nuzzled happily into Louis’ bare chest and pulled the arm Zayn threw around his waist in tighter. He pressed a kiss to a little patch of the looping cursive of Louis’ chest piece and then laid his head down on it. Louis’ voice wasn’t particularly deep but it still rumbled against Harry’s cheek when he spoke.

“I think we’ve earned ourselves a nap,” he suggested. Zayn let out a weak little cheer that ended with a chuckle into Harry’s curls.

“Mhm,” Harry hummed, curling up against Louis and sighing in bliss. “Best first date ever.”

“You say that like the night’s over,” Louis said. Harry couldn’t help feeling like it was forever. “I don’t know about Zayn but I’m not even close to being done with you, darling.”

“I could definitely go again,” Zayn agreed and Harry could hear the wily smirk in his voice. “Wanna get that big cock of yours in me.”

“Little slut,” Louis teased, reaching past Harry to smack Zayn’s bum. Zayn retaliated by smacking Louis’ and they had a little arse smacking wrestling match with Harry trapped in the middle for a moment before they settled back down.

“So we’ll have a little nap,” Louis said breathlessly, pulling Harry close again. “Then when we wake up we’ll try that toy of yours out. On Zayn, maybe, and while you’re doing that, dear Harold, I’ll rim your brains out. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like I’m going to need to work on my refractory period,” Harry replied cheekily, but based on the further events of that night, his recovery time wasn’t a problem.

-

Too early the next morning Niall was blowing up Harry’s phone and begging him to come to the door and let him in. He crawled out of the pile of bodies snoring away in Louis’ bed and yanked on someone’s joggers to go and let Niall in.

He unlocked the door and opened it to find not only Niall but also Liam standing in the hallway. As soon as he opened the door, the two of them began cheering loudly and thrusting into his hands a cake with rainbow frosting and words iced into the top. Harry couldn’t quite make out the words with the two men jostling him like they were. After they’d settled down he managed to read the message and he flushed instantly.

“’Congrats on the sex,’” Harry read and Niall clapped him on one bare shoulder and stepped past him into the flat. Liam followed and Harry after him, carrying the cake with him and shutting the door behind him.

Harry went to put the cake in the kitchen and Niall and Liam both dropped down onto the couch (after confirming that no one had had sex on it the night before). Niall took up the remote and started flicking through the channels on the TV.

“Put the kettle on then Harry, and we’ll have a proper spot of tea and cake like you English are so fond of while you tell us about your date,” Niall insisted and Harry did as he was told. He was fond of tea and cake.

After he had turned the kettle on, Harry joined his friends on the couch and tried to pretend to watch the TV while they both stared at him. They were quiet for all of thirty second before Niall reached out and pinched one of Harry’s nipples.

“You look like you got mauled,” Niall crowed, delighting in the sight of all of Harry’s lovebites and scratches. “That’s a lad! I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m proud of me too,” Harry admitted, smiling sheepishly. “But you didn’t have to get me a cake.”

“Cake?” Louis asked from the hallway as he carefully closed the bedroom door behind him, quiet so he wouldn’t wake Zayn. He’d put on one of Zayn’s tops and someone’s pants but he was scruffy and messy and his voice was rough and Harry wanted to pull him into his lap. “Not that I’m complaining but how did we get cake?”

“Niall and Liam brought it,” Harry replied, looking over the back of the couch at Louis as he wandered into the living room. He had a lovebite just under his jaw and the top he had borrowed had no sleeves so Harry could see the scratches on Louis’ shoulders where he’d dug his nails in.

“What’s the occasion?” Louis asked, pausing behind the couch to ruffle Harry’s curls as he peered into the kitchen. “And tea, too? Did one of you wankers get a promotion or something?”

“Just go look at the cake,” Harry said. “It’s for you. Us. And Zayn.”

“Now I’m even more curious,” Louis said. He gave a curl near the back of Harry’s head a playful little tug before he padded into the kitchen. Harry admired the roundness of his bum as he went and had to tear his eyes away because it just made him think of the things he’d done to that glorious arse just hours before.

“What a lovely cake,” Louis said a moment later, voice tight as he held in his laughter. “I especially like the frosting. Very gay.”

“Only the gayest for you, boo bear,” Niall piped in with a grin and a wink.

“Did you make this, Harry?” Louis asked, leaning his hip on the edge of the table and cutting a very distracting silhouette.

“Uhm – no. Niall just showed up with it ten minutes ago,” Harry replied. “I had no idea he was doing it.”

“Oh, well since it’s from your bakery, I just figured,” Louis said with a shrug. He leaned over and took a swipe of frosting with his finger and sucked it clean which Harry couldn’t focus on because he was too busy gaping at Niall.

“...you got this done at my bakery. Where I work. Where people know me,” Harry said slowly, accompanied by Niall’s nods and proud, sunny grin. “Did they recognize you? Do they know it was for me?”

“Sure do,” Niall replied smugly and Harry didn’t need to look at his boyfriend to hear the delighted cackle he let out at this admission. “I had a chat with the woman who took the order and explained the situation. How long was your dry spell?” He turned to Liam when Harry did immediately respond. “How long do you think it was, Payno? Ten months? A year?”

“Probably about a year and a half?” Liam said, squinting at the ceiling as he tried to remember. “Who was the last one? That weirdly religious guy who dressed really posh and rode his bicycle everywhere?”

“His name was Will, I think,” Louis piped up. “But I thought he hooked up with that bloke on Hallowe’en? The guy dressed like a fireman?”

“No, Haz said he wanted him to do some freaky shit so he backed out,” Niall reminded them.

“Bullshit!” Louis swore, gaping. “What did he want you to do? Did he want you to call him daddy?”

Harry flushed. “No. And for the record there’s nothing weird about that.”

“Is that so?” Louis asked, waggling his eyebrows at Harry. “Something to add to the list of topics to explore in the future, I think.”

“Ugh,” Liam cringed while Niall faked throwing up over the side of the sofa. Louis howled with laughter at such a volume that after some stumbling from the direction of the bedroom Zayn wandered out wearing nothing but a sheet he held wrapped loosely around his waist. The way he held it barely covered any of his body aside from the minimum necessary for decency.

“The fuck,” he mumbled, squinting at each man in the room in turn.

“Cake?” Louis asked cheerfully, obviously pleased by Zayn’s near nudity. Harry couldn’t help but agree.

Zayn’s eyebrows furrowed as he shuffled over to Louis and the cake in the kitchen, affording Harry with a mouthwatering view of his back, and expanse of dark skin marked with darker ink. When he leaned past Louis to look at the cake he let out a snort.

The kettle finished boiling and Zayn and Louis made a pot of tea and gathered up enough mismatched cups for them to have a proper tea party. Zayn nearly tripped on his sheet while carrying the pot out to the table in the living room but not a drop of tea was lost and Zayn managed to recover and keep his genitals covered (unfortunately). While they poured tea Harry, being the resident expert in the field, got up to cut and serve the cake and handed it out to his best friends and boyfriends. As all five of them sipped tea and ate cake with rainbow frosting that stained their mouths, Harry could only think of how perfect everything had turned out in spite of the heartbreak at the start.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed it!! if you want, you can hit me up at [my blog](http://thepriestthinksitsthedevil.tumblr.com/). see you next week!


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